Pokemon: The Kanto Saga
by J 1z Da Leg3nd
Summary: A young man named Joe who lives outside Pallet Town at his uncles farm discovers a rare pokemon being attacked by a bunch of bugs. He helps it out and befriends it, thus starting his new journey to become a pokemon trainer and take on all the gym leaders of Kanto, making many friends along the way. But a threat looms over Kanto. A Gang of criminals who call themselves Team Rocket.
1. Chapter 1: the Boy and the Bat

Night is a strange place for those who live via the day. Visibility is non-existent, sound are enhanced and there is a constant feel of being watched from every corner and direct. Some may say this is all in the mind and most would probably agree, but it is safe to say that once in a while when you're walking through the dark there is the every possibility that you are being watched. The world of Pokémon runs far and wide. There are many Pokémon, many lands and many people. Of all of them there are few who live within the darkness of night comfortable like it is all they know and which to know. On this specific night an abandoned Pokémon wonders the mist. It is hardly visible in the dark shroud of night but this Pokémon is designed to be hidden here. It is at home in this world… or at least it normally would be. This Pokémon is alone. It used to have a master but after unfortunate events he and his master have separated for reasons known very well to him. He ran away from his life as a slave in human hands… a bad humans hands. Life in comfort is all he has known and now he is alone in a world he doesn't recognise. He wonders on, flapping through the trees of nearby woods till he reaches a hill nearby a valley of open fields. He rests atop the hill, tired, confused and slightly afraid. But suddenly he hears the sound of tree twigs snapping in the distance and the low sound of buzzing. He turns to see a swarm of Pokémon coming towards him. Angry Pokémon. Unfriendly Pokémon. Pokémon looking for a midnight snack. He readies to fight if he has to. His master taught him the basics of battle but the Pokémon is still young. As the other Pokémon get closer he feels the strong grip of fear and adrenaline. And then the Pokémon up front lashes out with a long spiked arm at him.

Earlier that day…

The summer sun shone high up in the sky like a signal flare. The fields of Suroway Farm glowed like street lights as the sun rays reflected of the growing corn and ploughed dirt. Wild pidgey's, rattata's and the occasional butterfree scrabbled around the dusty ground, digging for hidden grubs under the mud. The farm digletts pushed their way through the ground, working the dirt so that it could be used to grow more crops. There was even a venusaur planting new seeds with its vines in one of the barren fields and a blastoise filling up the water tanks with its shell cannons.

The door to the farm house opened and a young boy in a blue jumper, light grey trousers, a black T-shirt with a logo of two crossed bird wings and a small open top red cap walked out, a tamed growlithe following him. The boy was called Joseph; however everyone had called him Joe because it was shorter. He scanned the fields with his sparkling, sea blue eyes getting a good view of the scenery. When he was satisfied he returned inside. The growlithe ran over to a small group of Rattata, hoping to play, he was a puppy after all. Inside Joe's uncle, a tall, well built, middle aged man with greying hair was sat reading the poké-times while watching the football on the television. Joe lived with his uncle because he did not have a father or mother. His uncle told him that the both of them had passed away when he was very young and he didn't remember what they were like. He didn't even know anything about them, his uncle had always hidden that from him. Joe walked in through the front door and sighed. It was the last day he would see his home in a long time, because tomorrow he was going to be given his first Pokémon and start his journey as a Pokémon trainer.

Professor oak from pallet town was offering to give several young people their own Pokémon to become Pokémon trainers. Luckily his farm was only a small distance from pallet town so Joe wouldn't have to walk far. Everyone has to choose from one of three Pokémon. Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Joe had spent the last couple of days deciding on which he wanted to start with. Bulbasaur was easy to train but was weak to quite a lot of types. Charmander was a lot harder to train but was strong against a lot of types. From what he knew, Squirtle was somewhere in between the two. But most of this information had come from his uncle who had been a trainer 20 years ago. His uncle also bread starter Pokémon for Oak to give to new trainers. He wasn't allowed to give them away himself because he was no professional Pokémon professor and it was illegal to give away Pokémon without a license and some form of knowledge about them. Pokémon are living beings after all and need to be treated properly just like people and animals. Joe walked over to one of the couches and sat down.

"How's the crops?" his uncle asked.

"They're doing fine." Joe replied.

"Is Blitz still out there?" his uncle asked. (Blitz was what they had named Growlithe)

"Yeah. He's playing with the other Pokémon out there."

"We should keep an eye on him. He's still a puppy and we don't want him accidentally burning the crops." Joe's uncle went back to his paper for a second. "You decided what Pokémon you wanted to start with? He added, curiously.

"Not yet" Joe told him. "I was actually hoping you'd help me decide. You used to be a trainer so I thought you might know which I should pick." Joe's uncle put the paper down and turned to look at him.

"Certain people work well with certain Pokémon and vice versa" his uncle told him. "No one truly knows what the best Pokémon to use is. It all depends on the trainer and how good the trainer and Pokémon's relationship is. Think yourself lucky. Not every kid gets a Pokémon and most of them won't start with one of the starters. They get one that's either handed down to them or one they've caught themselves." He smiled at Joe. "Look. What I'm trying to say is it all depends on what type works best for you. I've seen you with the wild Pokémon and how they behave around you. You seem to have a natural connection with flying type Pokémon. When you're in the fields they don't attack the crops but don't feel threatened by your presence. Maybe Charmander would be best for you. Its top evolution, Charizard is a flying type as well as fire."

"But I hate flying, and heights." Joe replied.

"Look. Think about it tonight." His uncle interrupted. "If you still haven't chosen by the morning then choose one at random." Joe's uncle picked up the newspaper again and continued to read. Joe walked up the stairs to his room. He sat down on his bed and switched on the TV. There was a battle happening on the PBA [Pokémon Battle Arena] channel. A trainer with a Dragonair was battling a trainer with a Rapidash and, from what Joe could tell, the Dragonair was winning, using powerful smashes with its tail to knock the foes Rapidash over. Around the room were posters of famous people and Pokémon, like the three legendary birds, Moltres, Articuno and Zaptos, the Kanto Elite Four, and a trainer in red with a Pikachu who Joe didn't know the name of. Joe relaxed onto his bed, a child's drawing of the three starters looking down on him. He smiled to himself.

"Soon my own journey can start" he thought to himself. Soon his eyes were closed shut and he drifted off into that large void in time and space called sleep.

A sudden Screeching in the distance woke him up. Joe sat bolt upright. He looked around the pitch-black room as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. The TV had been turned off while he slept and the clock on his wall said it was 5 minutes to 5 in the morning. He rubbed his tired eyes and swung his legs of the side of the bed.

"What on earth was that noise?" he thought to himself. "That was definitely not human. And If it was a Pokémon, It wasn't one I'd ever heard before" Joe went to the window and pulled back the curtains. Outside the sun was just starting to rise. A small line of purple light was moving its way up the sky. He looked towards the distance. On the hill, not too far away from the farm, a battle was going on. The silhouette of an unusual, winged Pokémon was fighting off another group of bug-like Pokémon. Part of Joe's mind said 'leave it. These things always happen and we shouldn't interrupt it. That's nature' but the other part of his mind, the part that was too curious to resist said 'I've never seen that kind of Pokémon before. And if it's incredibly rare, I should help it out.' As he looked closer, he could see that the group of Pokémon that were attacking were Beedrills. Six Beedrills were attacking that other Pokémon on the knoll. Beedrills could be dangerous enough on their own as they have strong poison in their stingers but a swarm is even worse. Even six of them can prove just as bad.

"I have to do something." He decided quickly. He grabbed his jumper and hat from the side of his chair and flung them on. Blitz was awoken by his rushing downstairs. He whimpered a little but he did not bark. Joe hushed him to be quiet as he crept to the door and slid it open. He ran out into the night, feet pounding on the dry ground, kicking up mud as he sped through the fields. The hill was getting closer and closer with every step. The Beedrills became more obvious the closer he got but the other Pokémon they were attacking was still hard to see, as if it was blending into the purple and black night. Blitz ran closely behind Joe. He had followed him out of the house, yapping at him, excitedly as puppy's do. Joe skidded to a stop as he realised that he hadn't thought this through properly. He was charging into a wild Pokémon battle with no Pokémon of his own and no experience in a battle what so ever. But it was too late to turn back now, he was already at the bottom of the hill, and that Pokémon needed help. He continued to scale the hillside, Blitz following behind. The battle was still going on, the Beedrills were still pressing hard with their attacks.

As Joe reached the top he was flung back as a huge burst of wind knocked him and the Beedrills flying to the ground. The other Pokémon had used its two large wings to create a powerful gust. Joe landed at the bottom of the hill. He winced in pain as he tried to get back up. The Beedrills were already back up and attacking again, this time more ferociously, throwing jabs and slashes everywhere. But again the Pokémon sent them flying backwards. Joe ran up the hill again. The Beedrills now getting back up again. As they began to get up to attack again Joe reached the top and Stood in front of the Pokémon, arms out to protect it. Blitz stood in front of him to protect him, yapping in excitement. The Beedrills looked surprised, so did the Pokémon Joe was protecting. Blitz growled uneasily, standing his ground but slightly frightened. Joe shivered with nerves but stood his ground, too. The Beedrills made a chorus of buzzing sounds which Joe assumed to be laughter. They raised their drills and prepared to charge. Joe suddenly realised how stupid he was to jump in front of a group of wild Pokémon. The Beedrills drove forward, drills out, ready to strike.

A flash of purple wings, a gust of strong wind and three of the Beedrills collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The others darted back in surprise. The Pokémon that Joe had been protecting was now in front of him, protecting him. Joe could still not see it properly. Its outline was the only thing visible in the darkness. It turned back to look at Joe. It's yellow, half-moon eyes glow in the darkness like filtered sunlight. In made a sort of purring-growling sound then turned back around to face the Beedrills in front. A drill smashed into the side of the Pokémon's face. It winced but took the hit and returned with a powerful blow from its front wings. The other Beedrills slashed and jabbed at it but it took the hits and returned them with fast movements and cleverly made dodges.

"We need to stop this." Joe commanded. Blitz looked at him and smiled. The Pokémon winced and flinched as the jabs came in faster and faster.

"Blitz! Ember!" A puff of flame smashed into the side of a Beedrill. It flinched upon contact and they turned to the direction it came from. Blitz sent out another ball of flame. This one hit a different Beedrill in its antennae which sent it into a furious rage. It swung its drills at the others and sent them scattering. Joe looked back to where the Pokémon lay in an exhausted heap. He ran over to it and put his hand on the back of its head. Its skin burned like fire. The pour thing had obviously been poisoned by the Beedrills. Its yellow eyes looked into his blue eyes. He felt a stinging sensation in his right arm. He looked to his right and saw a huge gash in his shoulder.

"Oh Cripes!" he exclaimed, exhausted. "This must have happened during the attack. I was too busy saving this Pokémon I didn't even notice it"

A wave of pain and tiredness hit him suddenly. His knees sagged and he collapsed to the ground. Blitz dashed over to him. He nudged his arm but Joe did not respond. Blitz lay down beside him, head up, looking out in case something else came along.

About an hour later the sun had risen higher, almost fully visible now. Joe and Blitz still lay where they had an hour before. The Beedrills had completely disappeared now. They knew not to mess with the three of them now. A shadow came into view in the distance. It scaled the hillside from the direction of pallet town. Blitz starred and one of his eyes slid open. He saw the shadowed figure walking towards them. Blitz lifted his head and growled lightly. The shadowed figure reached a pail hand out to Blitz and stroked him on the head.

A while later Joe awoke. Bright lights blurred his vision and he squinted his eyes so he could see. When his eyes were finally used to the light he looked around. He was lying on a turquoise, foam lab bed. He sat up slowly. He was inside a white room with pail green walls enclosing it. On his left was a bunch of vials that contained weird looking liquids, on his right was a desk with lots of paperwork on it. There was also another bed like his right next to him. The Pokémon that he had rescued that night laid on it. It hadn't awoken yet but that could be understood because the fight it had put up was astonishing. Joe got off the bed and winced with the pain in his shoulder. He looked at it and saw it had been bandaged. He walked over to the Pokémon. His legs ached with the pain of fatigue. Joe was now able to see it properly, and he understood why he couldn't see it to well in the darkness. From head to back wings it was covered in dark purple skin. It had two large, bat like ears at the top of its head, a large mouth that was full of sparkling white teeth, and two very small feet (at least what look like feet) behind its two back wings.

"Amazing, isn't it." Someone said behind him. Joe spun around in surprised. A tall, old, grey haired man stood there. He wore a white lab coat and dark grey trousers. He had short grey hair and chestnut brown eyes. He smiled at Joe in a disarming way.

"You shouldn't be walking around." He told him. "You had quite a big fight last night. It was lucky I found you."

"Professor Oak?" Joe asked. The man nodded. "What am I doing here?"

"One of the Beedrills who attacked you last night poisoned you. I used an antidote to fix you up" he pointed towards the purple Pokémon that ley on the bed behind him. "He saved you."

Joe turned around. The Pokémon was now awake; its yellow eyes looked into Joes. Joe felt a connection between the two of them. He felt like he'd known it for a long time, as though there meeting that night was destined. Something told him that if this Pokémon was to become his, to become an important part of his life, that they were going to have many great adventures to come.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It is a Crobat." Oak replied. "The final evolutionary stage of Zubat. This one's quite small for its species. They're incredibly rare among trainers and impossible to find in the wild. How you found this one I do not know but if you hadn't helped each other both of you could have died."

"Does my uncle know where I am?" Joe asked. The professor nodded.

"I contacted him straight after I found you." Joe put his hand on the Crobat's head. Its fever had died down now. His fingers brushed past something on the back of its left ear.

"What's this?" he asked. He pulled it off slowly so he didn't hurt him. He held in his hand a small plastic tag with a name inscrolled on it. "Ralph" He read aloud. Upon hearing this word the Crobat lifted itself straight up on its front wings. It recognises the name that Joe had read out.

"Looks like that's his name." the professor concluded. The Crobat, 'Ralph', nodded. The professor walked over to him.

"Your Uncle said you were coming in today for your first Pokémon." He continued to say.

"I know." Joe turned back around to face him. "But I still haven't decided on which Pokémon to start with."

"Well I have a proposition for you." he lifted up a small, cardboard box and opened the lid. Inside was a poké ball. This poké ball was different to the other types, though. It was white all over with a red line going over the joint part

"This was found hanging from his neck. We assumed it was the original poké ball 'Ralph' was caught in. You and 'Ralph' seem to have connected amazingly quickly. And since no one has come to claim him and you can't decide on what Pokémon to start with, I think that you should take Ralph as your first Pokémon." Joe looked back to ralph. "If you both choose." The professor continued. Joe thought for a couple of seconds. Ralph looked at him hopefully and nodded his approval.

"I choose you." he said quietly. Ralph smiled, flapped his wings and lifted off the bed. He hovered above the floor, his wings slowly flapping to keep him stable.

The Professor laughed. Joe turned back around to face him "Take the poké ball" professor Oak told him. Joe grabbed the poké ball out of the box. He held it out in his hand, and then clipped it onto his belt.

"It's settled then." The professor said delightedly. "This Crobat shall be your starting Pokémon. Before you go I have something to ask of you." He walked over to his desk and moved several papers aside, looking for something. "Many, many years ago I used to be a trainer myself. I had a dream of recording every Pokémon in our world. To take down information, to understand them properly. But I am old now and this dream has proven almost impossible to achieve now, especially since there are over 700 Pokémon known to us now." He finally found what he was looking for. A small, red, electronic pad. He picked it up and held it in his hand. "So I invented this, The Pokédex, to take down all the information about a Pokémon. It takes down basic information like name, looks, size and sound upon sight, but to get full information you have to capture it." He turned around and walked back to the two of them. He held his hand out with the Pokédex gripped in his palm. "Joe, I ask of you to take down information about all the Pokémon in the region. To understand them, to befriend them, to learn from them. Will you take this quest from an old man?" Joe and Ralph looked at each other, then back to the professor.

"Sure." Joe decided.

"Excellent." The professor cried. Joe took the Pokédex from the professor and held it in his hand. "Your uncle is waiting outside." The professor added. "Your adventure has just started."

The pair walked out of the building, smiles on their faces, their brains buzzing with excitement. Joe's uncle stood waiting, a bag over his back, Blitz standing next to him, and his Venusaur, Flower, had come along too. Joe walked up to him and stood in front of him. They did not speak for several seconds.

"I'm speechless." His uncle finally said. "You rush out to protect a wild Pokémon you don't even know from a swarm of bugs without any training or understanding of how to fight in a Pokémon battle. They you get hurt and get rescued by the old professor"

"I know." Joe said, solemnly. "I'm sorry" His uncle smiled and put his hand on Joe's good shoulder.

"And I couldn't be more proud of you." Joe looked at him, unsure that he heard right.

"But I acted irresponsible." Joe reminded him "Why are you proud?"

His Uncle laughed. "Because you saved another life and made a friend at the same time. You also learned more in one battle then most trainers do in five. It takes real bravery to risk your own life for others. As well as this you also learned how to battle with Pokémon and how to train them. Your father would have been proud of you, too" He took a step back and looked at Ralph. "Is this your Pokémon?"

Joe turned around to introduce him "This is Ralph"

"Ralph, huh." His uncle repeated. "Unusual nickname to give him."

"I didn't give it to him. It came on a tag attached to him." Joe informed him. "I also found him with an unusual poké ball. It was hanging from his neck." He passed his uncle the white poké ball the professor had given him.

"Never seen a poké ball like this before." His uncle concluded after studying it for a couple of seconds. "It's probably a new style that's been made." He then passed it back to Joe, not mentioning the small insignia carved on the back.

"I've brought along some things that you will need. I stopped off by the pokémart on the way." He slid the bag off from his back and lay it on the floor. "Inside is everything you're going to need. Five Poké ball, Potions to heal your team, food, water, spare clothes…"

"I get it!" Joe interrupted; irritated by the fact his uncle was giving him another lecture. He picked up the bag from the ground and slung it on his back. It was quite heavy but light enough to carry easily.

"One last thing." His uncle added. "You remember what I said yesterday about you having a good bond with flying types."

"Yeah"

"Well I was right" he told him. "Ralph is proof of that." His uncle took a step back. "Now go. Go have some great adventures with your friends. But don't forget about your old uncle at home"

"I won't" Joe said, a tear rolling down his eye. Blitz trotted up to Joe, yapping in excitement. Joe laughed and knelt down to him. He stroked his ears affectionately.

"No." he laughed "you aren't coming with me." Blitz's face drooped. He moaned in sadness. Joe tickled his chin. "You take care of the crops while I'm gone." Blitz's tail wagged furiously. He jumped up and down, barking his approval. "Good boy" he stood up again. He then walked up to Flower and patted her head.

"Saur" she said in affection.

Joe looked down the path to the next town. He knew the roads would be long and the battles tough but he could see the look in Ralph's eyes. They were prepared. The two of them set off, waving back to the others as they walked.


	2. Chapter 2: Winter

The path ahead twisted like a crazed snake. The duo stood upon the hillside, several kilometres away from the town of viridian. The clouded sky opened up to reveal beautiful blueness and the rays of the sun shone upon the valley below. Joe sighed and laughed.

"There it is. Viridian Town" He looked to Ralph who was smiling with excitement as well. Their first leg of their journey had just begun. "So far it hasn't been so…" but before he could finish his sentence he caught his foot on a root and fell. He rolled down the hill like an uncontrollable boulder, yelling all the way. Ralph flew after him. He tried to stop his friend but got caught up and was pulled along with him. They fell onwards, a mass of limbs and wings.

Not too far away a girl sat beside a pond, her feet resting in the still water. Her long, ginger hair flailed about in the mild, gusty air. She wore a yellow, short sleeved shirt and green shorts that matcher her eyes which were green like the shallow sea. A staryu sat next to her, looking deeply into the water. Unfortunately she didn't see the big ball of purple, black, pale and grey that was Joe and Ralph rolling towards her. 'CRASH!' the two of them collided into her and continued rolling down the hill. The Staryu look after them in surprise and quickly followed after its trainer. They were stopped finally by a big stone wall. The three of them lay in a pile, dazed.

"…bad" Joe finished. The girl pushed Ralph's wing off her face and shoved herself onto her feet. She was furious.

"What in the hell are you doing!" she shouted. "Watch where you're going!" Joe looked up and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry." He apologised. He started to get up.

"Oh, you're sorry." The girl replied. "Well that just makes everything better doesn't it? My head feels like it's been cracked like an egg shell" there was a sort of rumbling sound in the distance. They looked around to see the staryu that had been sitting next to the girl now rolling after them. Ralph was attempting to get back up too but as he did so he saw the staryu heading straight towards him. Before he could react it collided with him and knocked him back to the ground. The two of them lay in an unconscious heap. Joe and the girl looked down at them.

"Now look what you've done!" she exclaimed. "You knocked out my Pokémon!"

"Me?! Your Pokémon collided with mine!" Joe retorted.

"Well maybe you shouldn't roll down a hill into people." She commented

"Hey, I tripped."

"Then watch where you're stepping."

"What's going on here?" a voice came from behind them. They turned. A tall boy with short blond hair and brown eyes stood behind them. He wore a black hoodie that was unzipped and black cargo pants. He had dark black hair that covered his right eye but was almost cut of completely on his left side. He looked to be about 4 years older than Joe and he had a sinister aura around him. Like something wasn't right with him. "Why are you two shouting?" he continued.

"It's nothing." Joe insisted. The girl looked at him angrily. The boy looked at the two unconscious Pokémon that were Ralph and Staryu.

"Well if I were you I'd get those Pokémon seen to by the nurses at the Pokémon centre." He continued. "They look exhausted." Joe turned. He hadn't even noticed what the wall was. On the wall, only a couple of centimetres away from where they'd landed was a wooden sign with the words 'Viridian City' sketched onto it.

"Well thanks for the advice, but…" Joe started to say as they turned back around but found that the mysterious, dark clothed boy had disappeared. They couldn't see any sign that anyone had been there at all. "Where on earth did he go?" the girl asked

"He's got a point" Joe agreed. He placed his hand underneath Ralph's wings and lifted him up with both hands. He was unusually light for being about the same size as him. Ralph lay in Joe's hands like he was a baby being cradled. He started walking, heading for the gates.

"Where are you going?" the girl shouted after him.

"To heal my Pokémon." Joe replied. The Girl took out a poké ball and drew Staryu back in. she then ran after him.

"Get back here. You still haven't apologised!"

* * *

It was about midday by now and even though Viridian was a small town it seemed that everyone was out and about. Adults in smart suits walked quickly to and thro, busy doing their own things. Little children were on the grass playing pretend battles with plush dolls of pikachu's and jigglypuff's. In one area there was actually a proper battle going on. A trainer with a rattata was battling a trainer with a pidgey. Joe walked on, Ralph still unconscious in his arms. He stopped suddenly as two buildings stood directly in front of him. They both had a Pokémon sign on the side and on the roof but one of the buildings was bigger and had double sliding doors with an orange roof, while the other one was quite a lot smaller with only one sliding door and a blue roof. Joe stood there for a couple of seconds looking up at the buildings. The Girl he had bumped into earlier had caught up with him now.

"Aren't you going in?" she asked. Joe turned to her.

"Hmm?" he asked, rather confused.

"I hope you aren't planning to stand here all day." She told him. "The Pokémon centre is right in front of you." With that she walked up to the orange building and its two sliding glass doors pulled themselves aside.

"That's the Pokémon centre?" he asked.

"What did you think it was?" the girl questioned. Joe's expression told her everything. "You seriously didn't…" She started, but decided that making a joke about it probably wasn't the best idea. "You're a new trainer, then?" Joe nodded. "And _that_ is your starter?" she gestured to the unconscious Ralph lying in Joes arms. He was groaning loudly, tossing around like he was stuck in a bad dream.

"Personal choice." Joe answered. She continued to stare at him, amazed.

"Well this big orange building is a Pokémon centre. You'll find them in most towns. Very useful places. Whenever your Pokémon are hurt you can just bring them over here and get them healed up. And the best part is it costs nothing at all." She gestured now at the blue roofed building. "While this is a Pokemart. Here you can buy medicine and equipment for your travels. You usually find them next to Pokémon centres and they also are in most towns. Now let's hurry inside before our Pokémon get any weaker." And with that she walked inside the Pokémon centre. Joe followed after her.

The inside of the Centre was huge. The floor was made up of different shaded orange tiles which at the centre of the room joined to become one giant poke ball sign. There was a counter at the opposite side of the room that had vases full of flowers on it, a cash machine and behind it was a big, bed like structure that had six slots in it, each the exact same size as a pokeball. Around the room where seats for the patients or trainers to wait at. A selection of doors dotted the back wall. Behind them were the many different emergency rooms and storage rooms needed by the nurses. No one ever saw what happened in the surgery rooms. Joe stood in awe. The girl was walking up to the counter. The lady standing behind it smiled to her.

"Hello." She announced in a quirky, jolly voice "I'm Nurse Joanne. I take care of all your Pokémon healing needs. What service can I perform for you today?" the speech sounded much rehearsed. Joe wandered if all the Pokémon centre nurses had to give it to every visitor. He joined the girl at the counter.

"Hello." The girl replied. "Me and my 'friend' here need to heal up our Pokémon." She took out a pokeball and placed it on to the counter. She turned to Joe "go on. Put him onto the counter." Joe stepped forward and lay Ralph on the counter.

"Now this _is_ an unusual Pokémon." Nurse Joan stated. "Where did you find it?"

"I found him fighting off a bunch of bugs in the middle of the night." Joe responded.

"Does he have a poké ball?" the Nurse asked.

"Yes" Joe unclipped the white pokeball from his belt and placed it onto the counter.

The Nurse lifted it up in her hands and examined it.

After a couple of seconds she announced "I've never seen this kind of pokeball before. Is it one of the professor's new inventions?"

"I don't think so. He never mentioned making one." Nurse Joanne placed it back down on the counter. Joe caught a glimpse of a small carving on the back of the ball. It looked like a letter, but what it meant he had no Idea. The nurse clearly hadn't seen it.

"I'll heal your Pokémon for you then." She continued. She took the two pokeballs and placed them in the machine slots. She then lifted Ralph and laid him on a separate bed, but this one didn't have the pokeball slots. Instead it had a glass case that was pulled over to cover the Pokémon inside while it was healed. She flicked the switches and the machines buzzed with power. They glowed almost as bright as the sun. Light flickered all around them. The poké balls inside pulsed with light, going red, then yellow, then white, then back to yellow and then back to red within a matter of seconds, continuously pulsing. In the other machine Ralph stirred uncomfortably. His eyes flicker as he began to gain consciousness. His strength was slowly retuning. After a couple more seconds the flashing died down and the machines stopped buzzing.

"It will take time but your Pokémon will soon be fully healed within an hour."

"An hour!" Joe moaned. "That's quite a long wait"

"Oh stop moaning." The girl laughed. "It's not as though anything will happen within that time."

As if on cue, the doors behind them slid open and there was a loud yelling. Joe and the girl (who was now pretty much accompanying him) spun around to see two men in black clothing had burst through the centre doors. One was tall and skinny while the other was small and chubby with shades over his eyes. There black suits had big red R's on them and they had black hats on the top of their heads. They had straw sacks slung over their shoulders and held guns in their hands. Their eyes locked on the three of them.

"Oh my!" the girl exclaimed.

"What was that you were saying about nothing happening?" Joe asked, mockingly. She glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Nurse Joanne demanded. The chubby man turned to her and pointed the gun barrel at her. The two of them walked towards the counter and the two kids.

"This is a robbery" he announced. "Hand over all your Pokémon and poké balls, now."

"Now see here!" The Nurse demanded. Her voice had changed from being sweet and calm to being strict and _very _angry. "You can't just burst in here and demand our Pokémon! You have no right! What makes you think you can go around doing that to other people!" The man aimed the barrel of his gun at Nurse Joanne's counter.

"We're team Rocket." He replied. "Everyone will do what our boss says or face the consequences." The Nurse was squirming in front of the gun barrel.

"And the boss says we take your Pokémon." He smiled, revealing a full set of ugly yellow teeth. "Now, get against the wall, Pinkie!" the Nurse backed up and held her hands in the air. "Good girl" the Team Rocket grunt continued. He then looked to his companion who had his gun aimed at the children. "Lock them in one of the rooms." He instructed.

"Yes sir" the thin grunt replied. He gestured to the left with his gun. "Move it" he growled. He pushed them into a small janitor's cupboard on the far left side of the centre. They tried to fight him but he simply pushed them in and locked the door. He walked back over to join the other rocket grunt.

* * *

The janitor's cupboard was cramped and dark. The only light in the room was coming in from under the door. Brooms, overalls, mops and buckets were hanging on the back wall on pegs. Joe was smashing his good shoulder against the metal door, trying to break it off its hinges.

"Stop it. It's no use!" the girl told him. "You're just tiring yourself."

"We have to get out of this room." Joe replied. "Ralph's in there. They might hurt him, or even take him with them."

"You named that giant bat thing 'Ralph'?" She asked.

"Does it matter? Those men are robbing the centre and Ralph, the Nurse and us two are all in danger."

"Well ramming yourself against a solid metal door isn't going to help." The Girl continued. Joe winced suddenly and clenched his hand on his shoulder. The cut that the beedrill had given him was bleeding again. He yelled in pain and leaned against the cold metal.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked, suddenly concerned.

"My shoulder." Joe replied. "Stung by a beedrill this morning." He winced again and slid down till he was sitting propped against the door. "It hurts like nothing I've ever felt before." He exclaimed.

"One second." The girl told him. She unzipped her waist bag and rummaged around for a couple of seconds and pulled out a small plastic vile of purple liquid with a spray nozzle on the top. She lay the bag down and knelt down in front of Joe.

"Show me where you were stung." She said. Joe pointed to his left shoulder. He lifted his sleeve up to show the bandage that Professor Oak had placed on the wound to keep it clean. It had gone crimson where the wound had not been healed properly. She unwrapped it slowly to reveal his shoulder underneath. The skin had gone pail and the wound was no longer bleeding but was still very red and sore. "Hold still" the girl told him. She lifted the plastic vile up to the wound and her finger squeezed the trigger in. The purple liquid sprayed out in a small cloud of water droplets. Joe expected it to sting as the liquid hit the wound but it didn't. If anything it numbed the pain. He looks at the wound and saw that it was already beginning to heal over.

"Antidote" the girl told him. "They're meant for Pokémon but are just as useful for fixing up poisoned people."

"Thanks" Joe replied as he lifted himself up again. He felt his strength coming back to his arm and the stinging had almost stopped completely. "I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves." He pointed out. "My name's Joe."

"I'm Winter" the girl told him.

"Winter huh," he repeated "Great name."

"Oh stop it." she said, blushing.

"Now, how do we get out of here?" Joe asked. The two of them looked around in the dark for a possible answer. "Hmm" he pondered.

"Over here." Winter called. Joe joined her. She was looking up at a small ventilation shaft in the wall side, just big enough for a child or teenager to sit or crawl in. "Here." She continued. "If we took the vent cover off we could crawl through the shaft till we found a point we could get out through."

Joe smiles at her "Brilliant!" he exclaimed.

"Thank you!" she smiled back.

"Only problem is…" Joe pointed out. "How are we going to get the vent cover off? We don't have any tools or Pokémon that could take them off."

"Actually we do." Winter unhooked a lone pokéball off her belt and held it in her hand. She threw it up into the air. Before it hit the floor the ball stopped and flicked open. A ray of white light shot out and reformed itself. When the light had fully left the ball it slammed shut again and flew back into winter's held out hand. Where the light had hit stood a small, blue circular Pokémon with a white and black swirl on its belly, a short flat tail and two large, innocent eyes.

"A Poliwag" Joe said.

"Stream" Winter called. The poliwag turned around to face her.

"Poli?" it asked.

"Open up the vent for us." Winter instructed. Stream nodded and shot a jet of water out of his mouth at the vent. The vent began to bend and eventually swung off, still hanging from one fringe.

"Good job." Winter told Stream, then opened up the pokéball and pulled him inside again.

"Let's get out of here" Joe announced. They walked up to the vent and stopped at the hole.

"Give me a boost up." Winter instructed.

"Ok" Joe held his hands out low. Winter lifted her leg up onto his hands and pushed herself up and into the vent. When she was fully inside she turned around and held out a hand for Joe to pull himself up. He took it and pulled himself in to join her.

"Now where?" he asked.

"Strait on, I guess." Winter replied. They crawled forwards. After a while they could hear the two Rocket grunts talking to each other. They eventually came across a vent cover on the floor. The two men were rummaging through the centres pokéball collection. Taking all the balls they could carry in two hands and filling up the sack bags with them.

"The counter is right below us." Winter whispered.

"What now?" Joe asked. They thought for a second. An Idea suddenly popped into his head.

The Rocket grunts were busy digging their way through the heaps of pokéballs. Too busy to notice the vent in the centre's main room open up and Joe slide out. He dropped down to the floor like a ninja and snuck his way up to the counter and slid over it. He went up to the machine that Ralph was in and turned it off. The machine stopped glowing and the glass slid open. Ralph Opened his eyes and saw Joe standing over him.

"Wake up, buddy." He whispered. "We've got a job to do."

* * *

"We've got enough Pokémon now. The tall Grunt said to the short one.

"Good." he replied "Then let's get out of here." They ran out of the room and stopped at the Nurse who had been pushed into the corner.

"And don't even think about calling the police!" the short grunt told her.

"Oh, you needn't worry about that." A voice said behind them. There was a 'THWACK!' and the tall grunt went flying forward into a pile of poké balls.

"What!?" the short grunt exclaimed. He turned around. Joe and Ralph were standing behind him, arms folded.

"You see, we already called them." Joe told him.

"Meddling kid!" the short grunt exclaimed. He turned around to properly face him but a purple wing hit him in the stomach and sent him flying against the wall. Ralph swooped over and bit him on the arm. The grunt yelled out in pain. The tall grunt finally pulled himself out of the pile of poké balls only to be greeted by a loud screeching noise being emitted from Ralph's mouth. He clenched his ears in pain a stumbled around the room, bumping into the walls. The short grunt pulled up his gun but it was hit from his hand and was sent spinning across the floor. It stopped at the two sliding glass doors which suddenly swung open and seven police officers rushed in. The grunts saw them and made a run for it but Ralph flew after them and grabbed them by the collar with his teeth. He dragged them kicking and screaming to the police officers who cuffed them and took the stolen poké balls. Winter, who had got out through a separate vent in the side of the building, came running in after them.

"We're lucky you were here." Said the police sergeant who was talking to Joe by the desk. "If you hadn't stopped them, these two would have gotten away with over 100 Pokémon." He gestured to the two grunts who were now handcuffed and being pushed out of the centre.

"Good work, kid." He continued. He patted Joe on the shoulder. "If you ever get in trouble again just contact us and we'll send some men over to help out." He then walked away to the other officers. Winter ran over to join Joe.

"The plan worked, then?" she asked, rhetorically.

"It sure did." He replied. "Thankfully Ralph had his strength back by then."

The doors slid open and a journalist and cameraman came running in.

"Hold the inquiry!" she shouted, running up to the police officers. The cameraman followed closely behind her. "We would like to interview the witnesses for the poke-news." She declared to the sergeant. He gestured to the nurse who was now back at the counter and she seemed to be gaining her confidence back.

"Let's get out of here before they start interviewing us." Winter joked.

"Good idea." Joe agreed. "Let's grab our Pokémon and go."

A couple of minutes later they were outside in the cold air. The two of them sat on a bench, drinking cold lemonade, watching the sun start to fall slightly from above. Joe looked at the new, silver pokétch that he had just bought with his money. It was a new style of watch that had come all the way from Sinnoh. The time on it said 6:47. Ralph was flying around, which was pretty much his way of enjoying his spare time.

"What are you going to do now?" Winter asked. She placed here drink on the side of the bench next to her bag.

Joe pondered this for a second. "I don't know." He replied. "I'll probably head on through Viridian forest to the next town. Professor Oak asked me to help him fill up his Pokédex so I'll probably work on that." Winter nodded, understanding.

"You could always challenge the gym leaders." She pointed out. Joe considered this. He'd forgotten about the gym leaders.

"I guess I could." He agreed. "But I'd have to train up. And catch more Pokémon for my team." She nodded in agreement.

"So that's what you're going to do, then?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to take on the Gym Leaders." Joe concluded. He got up and called over to Ralph. "Hey, Ralph. Come on. We're going." Ralph turned and flapped his way over to Joe.

"Good luck to you." Winter said. Joe looked down at her.

"You could join me if you want." He said, invitingly.

"It's alright." She told him. "I've got my own Pokémon to train as well"

"We can do that together." Joe told her "As a team."

"No, I can't make you take me along." She persisted. Ralph arrived at the scene. His smiling, happy face looking at Winter. Winter smiled back.

"Go on." Joe persisted. "We make a great team."

Winter sighed. She gave in fighting it. She wanted to join them just as much as they did.

"Well I'm heading to Cerulean City anyway and you're going that way so I guess I'll join you." Ralph did a summersault in the air in delight. Joe smiled.

"Fantastic" he declared. "Let's go"

And with that the three of them walked off down the road. They eventually came up to the path that went through Viridian forest. The trees were looming over them and the grass in the distance moved like ripples on water.

"Here we go then." Joe declared. "Into the unknown again."

"Well, there's only one way now." Winter said. "Strait on."


	3. Chapter 3: Viridian Forest

The campfire burned bright in the cold night air. It was the only thing around that was providing any light at this point of the night. Time had passed quickly in the forest. The current time was 11:23 at night and Joe lay on the leaves and grass that made up the forest floor, his head propped up against a log. Ralph lay next to him, snoring away soundly. Winter was propped against another log on the opposite side of the campfire. She was wearing a big, furry, dark green coat over her body and she was still awake. So was Joe. He'd been looking over the White poké ball that was Ralphs. Winter looked at him, then at Ralph.

"He's in a deeper sleep then a full Snorlax." She announced suddenly. Joe looked up at her, then at the Sleeping Crobat.

"He is rather." He agreed. "I bet a stampede of Tauros couldn't wake him." they both laughed nervously. The fire flickered and sparked as the wood began to break apart.

"What are you holding there?" Winter asked. Joe looked down at the pokéball in his hands.

"It's Ralph's poké ball." He told her.

"Well if it's just a poké ball why are you looking at it like it's an alien artefact?" she asked.

"It's not the average kind of pokéball." He told her.

"Let me see." She got up and walked over to join him. She sat down next to him. She took the poké ball from Joe's hands and examined it. She rolled it over and over in her hands.

"I see what you mean." She said eventually. "It's white."

"That's not the only thing." Joe added. He took the poké ball back and turned it over. "See here." He pointed to the back of the ball. Carved underneath the hinge, in small writing, barely visible, was the letter 'G'. "What do you think _that _stands for?" he asked.

Winter thought for a couple of seconds. "I dunno. It could stand for anything." She concluded.

"That was my thinking." Joe continued. "But you see, when I first found Ralph, he had a small paper tag on the back of his ear that had his name written on it. And I've just noticed that this poké ball has a small G on it." He stopped for a second to allow the information to sink in.

"I think that it's the initials for the original owner." He continued.

"But initials are usually 2 letters, not just 1." Winter argued.

"hmm." Joe agreed. "But like I said, it's only a thought." The night silence suddenly crept in again. Only Ralphs snoring, the crackling fire and the occasional cricket broke it.

"Why did you become a Pokémon trainer, Joe?" Winter asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Joe asked. He had almost dosed off.

"I said, why did you choose to become a Pokémon trainer?" She repeated

"Oh, um." Joe began. "I guess it was because I wanted to have an adventure. I spent my entire life growing up on a farm with my uncle. I grew up around Pokémon, yes, but I never actually did any catching or battling.

"You didn't live with your parents?" Winter asked.

"I didn't know them." Joe replied "They died when I was very young."

"Oh." Winter said, embarrassedly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." She sounded regretful about bringing it up.

"It's not your fault." Joe told her. "How were you to know?"

The night made that odd transition to day. The moon disappeared behind the tall trees of the forest and on the opposite side the sun took its place, bringing its beautiful red ocean of light in front of it. Joe's eyes lifted. The sun had properly arrived in the sky now. The suns rays were bleeding through the forest roof and spraying the ground with light particles. The campfire was nothing but cinders now, colder than stone. He looked to the side of him. In his sleep, Ralph had rolled over and was now lying on Joes Left arm. He shrugged him of and Ralph slipped down to the floor. Winter had also fallen asleep on his right arm. Her head rested against his shoulder. Joe thought that this should have been more alarming then it was but he was too tired to attempt to push her off. As Joes senses came back into action he realised he could hear a rustling of plastic and paper. As he looked around he saw that something was rummaging through his bag that he had left by the log on the other side of the camp. A small, flat, bolt shaped yellow and brown tail was waiving about at the end of the bag. The tail moved and a yellow back with brown stripes came into view. Then two long yellow and black ears. Joe saw properly what it was now. A Tinny Pikachu was rolling out an apple from his bag. It picked up the apple and took a big bite out of the side. It then reached its tiny hand in and pulled out a couple of apple pips. It popped them into its mouth and munched away happily. Joe got up slowly.

"Hey, that's my food!" he yelled. The Pikachu stopped munching and looked straight at him, a surprised expression on its face. Then it dashed off, the apple hanging from its mouth. Joe ran after it. "Come back here with that apple." All the shouting woke up Winter and Ralph.

"What's going on?" she asked. Then she saw Joe running off into the forest. "Where are you going?" she yelled after him.

Joe ran on, hardly looking where he was going. He ducked under branches and ran through bushes. Pidgey's burst out of the grass, startled by the rampaging trainer who had just burst through their homes. The Pikachu had almost disappeared out of sight now. Just as Joe was about to give up his leg caught against something soft and he tripped forwards, landing on his face in the leaves.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. He rolled over to see what he'd fallen over. Only a couple of inches away from his feet was a small weedle rolling on its back, trying to get itself back up. It got back onto its lumpy feet and looked angrily at him.

"Oh, Cripes!" Joe exclaimed. The weedle shot a long line of silky string out from its mouth which wrapped around Joes legs, stopping him from getting up. "Hey" he complained as he tried to pull the string off but it was much tougher than it had first looked. Winter and Ralph arrived at the scene. She was carrying the bags and Joe's equipment with her. The weedle was now beginning to slide away.

"Ralph." Joe shouted. "Get this thing off me." Ralph sighed, flew over and bit on the string. After a couple of seconds it snapped and Joe got up, angrily.

"Ok" he continued. "Ralph, use wing attack!" Joe commanded and pointed to the exiting weedle. Ralph turned to watch it. He flew forwards at light speed and slashed his wing upwards on the weedle. It flew up into the air, wailing in surprise, and then it began to fall back down again.

"Don't let it hit the floor!" Winter shouted, worried for the poor thing. Joe thought for a second and remembered that he didn't have any other Pokémon currently. He hadn't caught any yet and this was the perfect opportunity for him to catch his second team member. He smiled, took his bag from Winter, pulled out an empty poké ball and pulled back his arm. The weedle was falling faster and faster, gaining speed, wailing like a fog horn. Joe threw the poké ball at the falling Pokémon. The ball tapped the Weedle on the side before it hit the floor and the ball burst open. A beam of white light shot out, engulfed the Weedle, pulled it in, and then slammed shut. It dropped to the floor like a stone. Joe stood in anticipation. The ball shook, emitting a bleeping noise every time it moved. The shaking went on. Sweat beads rolled down Joes head. Ralph flapped his wings slowly, keeping aware in case the Pokémon broke free. And then there was a small click and the ball stopped shaking. Joe whooped with delight and Ralph did a small summersault in the air. Joe held his open palm in the air to Ralph. He stared at it, unsure what to do.

"Go on" Joe encouraged "Hit my hand with your wing" Ralph hesitated for a second and then slapped his front right wing on Joes hand it a high five. Joe Ran over to the poké ball and picked it up. He held the ball in his hands for a couple of seconds and smiled. "We did it, Buddy." He said, the excitement welling up in him. "We've caught our first Pokémon" Just then there was a beeping coming from his pocket. Joe slid his hand inside and pulled out his Pokédex that professor Oak had given him. He flicked the lid up and saw that the Pokédex was adding data on Weedle to its database. The information said 'Weedle. The Hairy Bug Pokémon. Types: Bug and Poison. Often found in forests and grasslands. It has a sharp, toxic barb of around two inches on top of its head which it uses to defend itself against predators.' Then the Pokédex stopped beeping and turned itself off. Joe slid it back into his bag.

"Are you going to nickname your new Pokémon?" Winter asked. Joe turned around to look at her. "I thought that because Ralph's got a nickname you might want to give one to Weedle as well." She continued.

Joe thought for a second. "I guess I could." He replied "But what name would I give it?" he thought for a couple of seconds. Then a name popped into his head. "What about Sting?" he asked.

"Sting?" Winter questioned. She didn't sound sure about it.

"Yeah." Joe told her. "It's simple, cool and works with the Pokémon type." Ralph looked like he like the sound of it and Winter wasn't complaining. "That's settled then." He declared. "Weedle's nickname shall be Sting" He looked around suddenly. "Now where's the pathway gone?" He asked. They all looked around suddenly. They had wondered off the path and got lost in the woods. The trees loomed over them like giants.

"We can't have gone too far." Winter rationalised. "We should go back the way we came and see if we can get back on it." They turned back around and walked on.

They kept going on and on but the path seemed to get further and further away from them. They eventually stopped in a small clearing to rest.

"This is no good." Joe exclaimed. "We must be miles away from the path now." he leaned against the nearest tree to rest. "Let's face it. We're lost." Something fell out of the tree above him. It whizzed past his face in a red and white blur and thudded to the ground by his feet. He looked down at it. It was a poké ball. A poké ball had just dropped out of the tree and landed at his feet. "What the…?" he pondered. He bent down to pick it up but before he could react the poké ball burst open and a beam of light hit the ground next to him. The light formed into a small, purple, rabbit like Pokémon. Ralph and Winter walked over to join him.

"That's a Nidoran male" Winter pointed out. "A caught one." The Nidoran male looked up at them. They bent down towards it. It growled defensively and bared its teeth and they backed up again.

"Well well, look what we have here." A male voice said behind them.

"A couple of rookie trainers." A second, female voice said. The trio turned around. Behind them where two figures standing in the shadows.

"Shall we teach them what Pokémon battles are about?" said a third voice from a figure they couldn't see.

"What a wonderful Idea" the female figure replied.

"We'll give them a lecture on it." The male figure agreed.

The figures stepped forward. They were another couple of trainers that had been traveling through the forest, only these two wore matching red suits and black gloves and boots. The male trainer was pail with chocolate brown eyes and short, spiky green hair while the female trainer was tanned with Turquoise eyes and long curly blue hair. Following them was a small pink Pokémon, or at least what Joe assumed was a Pokémon, that looked like a melting jelly or a lump of moulding plastic. The Nidoran male that had appeared from the poké ball ran over to join them.

"Who are you?" Winter asked. The Female trainer smiled.

"Like you don't know us." She laughed.

"We're only the toughest, Coolest, Badest trainers in the region" the Male Trainer added.

"Tougher then Steel!" She added

"Faster than Light!" he added

"Cooler then cool!"

"Better then Best!"

"Ruby!" the Girl said

"And Ross!" the boy said

"And Frank!" the Pink Jelly added. Joe and Winter jumped back in surprise.

"It can talk!" Joe exclaimed.

"Of course I can talk." It said, very offended. "Did you think I was one of those dumb Ditto's? And my name's Frank, Not 'It'!"

"And we're Team Ace!" Ruby added.

"And we're unbeatable!" Ross finished.

"Well that was quite a show" Winter Commented "but it doesn't say anything about your ability's as trainers." Team Ace looked at her.

"I think she's asking for a fight, Ross." Ruby noted.

"Let's teach her a lesson, Ruby" Ross agreed

Joe pushed in front and stood in their way. "You want a fight?" he stated. "You've got one! With me!" The threat didn't have the reaction he expected. Team Ace burst out laughing.

"You?" Ruby Laughed

"You don't stand a chance!" Frank stated. "Let's show him what we're all about" Franks form suddenly pixelated and changed. It went from being small and liquidy to being big and tough. When the transformation stopped frank was no longer the small pink jelly he had been but a large Rhyhorn. Ruby pulled out a pokéball and release another Nidoran, only this one was blue with smaller spikes, obviously a female.

"Get 'em boys!" Ross commanded. Frank and the Nidorans charged.

"Come on out, Sting!" Joe yelled as he threw Stings poké ball into the air. It landed and opened up. Sting appeared on the grass, calm and ready to fight. Frank got closer and closer, his horn lowered, ready to smash into the two kids.

"Sting, Use String shot!" Joe commanded. A line of silk shot from Stings mouth and wrapped around Franks front legs. He exclaimed as he buckled forwards, hit the ground and kept going. He crashed into a tree and lay, sprawled out on the ground. He groaned and flexed his front legs, trying to get the string off.

"Good work, Sting." Joe said. "Ralph, use Supersonic!" Ralph flew forward towards the Nidoran male who was charging towards Sting. Ralph flew overhead and let off an ear piercing screech. The Nidoran male got the full blast and stumbled around, its head spinning like a merry-go-round. It stumbled into the path of the other Nidoran female and they crashed into each other.

"Good work, now get them with bite!" Joe continued. Ralph swooped down towards the Nidorans. Meanwhile Frank was still trying to untie his front legs. He gave up trying to break it and instead changed from again. This time he became a Ponyta. The string shrugged of his now thin, burning legs

"You'll regret stringing me up!" he shouted, angrily. He charged at Sting, a trail of fire following behind.

"Look out, Sting!" Joe called out, realising that he was in trouble. Seeing the charging Frank heading towards him, sting calmly rolled to the side and Frank shot past and smashed into another tree. He groaned in pain as he slid to the floor.

"I hate this Weedle!"

In the other battle, Ralph had flipped the Nidoran female over and she had got lodged on her head horn and back. Her legs flailed in the air as she tried to turn over. Meanwhile Ralph was chasing after the Nidoran male, snapping his jaws closely behind it as it ran away. Ross and Ruby stared in horror at how badly the battle was going for them.

"Come on, Frank!" Ruby yelled. "Take it down already!" Frank opened his eyes and smiled. His form pixelated again and changed shape. He was no longer a ponyta but now he was a tiny caterpie.

"What are you doing?" Ross shouted. "A caterpie! You can't beat them as that!" Frank didn't care. He crawled his way to Sting, head lowered. Sting saw him coming and turned to fight. Frank shot forward at amazing speed. He crashed into Sting and sent him flying through the air. He skidded along the ground like a crashing plane. Frank laughed

"Puny Bug!" he shouted. Sting weakly pushed himself up only to get rammed in the side by Frank again. Joe saw him in trouble.

"Sting!" he shouted. "You can do it!" Sting looked over to him. He saw the concern in Joes face. Even though he had only been caught less than an hour ago, this human already cared that much about him to encourage him to fight. He knew at that point that if his trainer thought he could win, then he could most definitely try. He pushed himself up and turned to face Frank.

"Still not backing down, hey?" Frank mocked. He wriggled his way closer and closer. Sting glared at him. "I'll show you what good that will do!" Frank charged. Sting stood his ground. The Ditto got closer and closer and closer, his head lowered, ready to send Sting flying. Still Sting didn't move. Frank was laughing manically now. His head was only meters away now. Suddenly Sting lowered his head till the needle on the top was pointing directly at Frank. There was a 'Smash!' and Frank, who had a couple of seconds ago been charging at full speed, was now standing completely still. His eyes had widened dramatically. Sting's needle had hit him in the chest. Sting took several steps back from him. Franks eyes suddenly drooped. He started to tilt and sway.

"I don't feel good" he moaned. He changed back into his natural form and slid his way back to Ross and Ruby. Ralph had already beaten their Nidorans and they were totally stunned.

"They beat us!" Ross gasped.

"I can't believe it!" Ruby added, completely speechless. "It's impossible. We've never been beaten!" Joe and Ralph were whooping with delight. They met their hands in a high five again. Frank had reached them now. He was still moaning. Little purple bubbles were floating out of his mouth.

"That litthle Tthwerp!" he lisped. "Their Weedle poisthoned me!" Ruby bent down and picked the little ditto up in both hands.

"You'll see us again." She told them

"Team Ace never gives up" Ross Told them. And with that they ran away back through the forest.

"They were an odd bunch." Winter said. "What did they have against us?"

"I don't know." Joe replied "But what I do know is we beat them, good."

Suddenly Sting flashed. His body became a shell of glowing bright light, whiter than the sun. It consumed his entire body then continued out to make a small ball of light.

"What's happening to Sting?" Joe asked. Winter simply smiled.

"He's had enough battle experience to evolve." She explained.

"Evolve" Joe gasped.

The Ball of light flickered like a damaged light bulb and pulsed with energy. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it faded inwards and completely disappeared. Sting was no longer the small little Weedle that he had been just a few seconds earlier. He was now twice his original size with no longer a long body but a tall, pointed body which he balanced on easily. His head had become a semi-circular bulb with two large bug eyes at the centre. Sting had evolved into a kakuna.

"Alright!" Joe exclaimed in delight. "I've made my first Pokémon evolve" he ran over and picked up Sting. He hugged him tightly and threw him lightly into the air, caught him, then threw him back up. Stings eyes were huge and worried. He clearly wasn't enjoying this form of celebration. Joe saw his discomfort.

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot that bugs don't like being thrown about." He apologised and put him back on the ground. Sting looked at him gladly. Joe unclipped his poké ball and called Sting back in.

"At this rate I'll get the Pokédex finished in no time." He thought to himself.

"Oh give over." Winter replied. "There's over one-hundred and fifty Pokémon in this region alone. You own two Pokémon and only one has evolved." she held up her hand and pointed three fingers to the air. "That's only three you've registered" there was a rustling in the bushes behind them. They turned around. The little Pikachu from earlier came waddling through, rolling a brand new apple in front of him. It sat down on the edge of the clearing, picked up the apple and took a large bite out of it. It then gulped it down and stuck its tiny yellow paw inside and began pulling out the pips. Joe smiled.

"Make that four." He told her.

He walked forward slowly, Ralph following closely behind. The Pikachu's ears twitched and it paused in motion. Joe stepped slowly closer. The Pikachu turned to face him, its little ears twitching. Joe continued to walk towards it, still slowly moving so as not to scare it away. The Pikachu stayed standing where it was. It took another pip out of the apple and munched slowly on it, never taking its eyes of the approaching trainer. Last time it had run away when it saw Joe but this time it was still standing at the same place. Joe was almost directly in front of it now.

"Hey there little fella" Joe said comfortingly to the tiny yellow electric mouse. He knelt down and slid off his bag. He unzipped it and pulled out a shiny skinned apple. The Pikachu's eyes glistened as it looked at the fruit in Joes hand and it licked its lips hungrily.

"You like apples, don't you?" Joe smiled. He held out his hand. "Here you go." The Pikachu crawled forwards slowly and cautiously. It held out its small pawed hands and grabbed the apple. It swiped it from Joe's hands in a flash and took a large chunk of apple off in one go. It reached inside the apple and pulled out seven small pips. It shoved them one by one into its mouth till they were almost all gone. It was about the pop the last pip into its mouth when it stopped. It looked back at the trainer who had given it the apple. It them waddled back over to Joe and held out its tiny paw with the pip in its palm. Joe laughed at the politeness of the tiny thing.

"Thank you." He laughed. He clamped two fingers around the pip and lifted it out of the Pikachu's hand. It smiled at him, proudly. Joe popped the pip into his mouth and munched on in, happily. He then smiled down at the Pikachu who was smiling back.

"You want to come with me, don't you?" He asked it. The Pikachu nodded vigorously. It gave him a cheeky smile that said 'I'll go with you if you can show me that you are a strong enough trainer to catch me'. Joe laughed.

"Okay then." He took a couple of steps back. The Pikachu readied itself to fight.

"Ralph." Joe commanded. "Use Supersonic!" Ralph took in a deep breath and emitted an odd, high pitched spring of noise that shot towards the Pikachu like a speeding bullet. The Pikachu shot aside of it and fired a small bolt of electricity at Ralph. He dodged it just in time and swooped towards it, wings outstretched. A wing hit the Pikachu in the stomach and it flew backwards. It spun through the air and landed easily on its feet. Ralph came around for another attack. As Ralph flew past the Pikachu lashed out with its tail and wiped Ralph on the wing. He dodged out of the way but at the same time took his eyes of the flight path. He dodged and dived pasted the tree branches as he tried to get back on course. Ralph swooped down and smacked into the Pikachu again this time nocking it flat on its back. Joe took advantage of this opportunity. He pulled out a poké ball and flung it at the scrabbling Pikachu. The ball opened and the Pikachu was sucked inside. Then the ball dropped to the floor like it had done when Joe caught Sting. It rocked about like it had done last time. Joe and Ralph stood and floated it tense anticipation. The ball continued to rock from side to side like a boat on the ocean. And then 'Click!' the poké ball locked shut and Joe relaxed. Yet again he had managed to capture another Pokémon. He turned to face Ralph who was smiling happily. They met their hands in a high five again and then they both ran forwards and picked up the poké ball that now carried the newly caught Pikachu. The Pokédex beeped again and Joe pulled it out of his bag again. It was adding more data to the memory base. The information that was now appearing on the screen said 'Pikachu. The mouse Pokémon. Type: electric. It has small electric sacs on both its cheeks. When several of these Pokémon gather, their electricity can build and cause lightning storms.' Joe laughed.

"Are you going to nickname this one too?" Winter asked.

"Yeah." Joe answered. He thought for a second to try and come up with a name. One popped into his head. A simple name that described the personality of this Pokémon entirely.

"I'm thinking Pippy." He decided finally.

"Because he likes apple pips?" Winter asked.

"Of course." Joe confirmed. "Suiting, don't you think?"

"It also works with his Pokémon group." Winter added. Joe looked at her confused. "Well, he's a Pikachu, and Pippy sound like pi pi, which Pikachu's say, so…" she saw that Joe still had no idea what she meant. "Never mind" she said finally. Joe turned back to the forest.

"I'm really starting to begin my journey now." he told himself. "That's three Pokémon on my team already."

"You've still got one-hundred and forty seven more to register." Winter reminded him. Joe turned back to face her. He smiled a cheeky, confident smile.

"That is a challenge that I'm willing to take on"


	4. Chapter 4: Old Rivals

Joe and the gang were walking through the forest. He had just caught his new team members, Pippy the Pikachu and Sting the Kakuna, and they were now back on the path to Pewter City. Winter had decided that her Pokémon deserved some time outside their poké balls and both here Staryu and Poliwag were walking beside her. They strolled along at a casual speed. Leaves floated down all around them. Calls from wild Pokémon rang out around the forest. A little while on they came across a small sign post. On it read 'Pewter City: ½ a mile away. Northwards'

"Not too far away now." Joe sighed. He was exhausted from all the walking he had done that day. He took a quick look at his silver Pokétch. The time had just gone 2:11. Shadows were starting to form under the trees now.

"We should make it before 3." Winter agreed. They continued to walk on. A little while later they came across an abra that was floating cross legged in the middle of the road. It didn't see the three of them.

"Hey look." Joe pointed towards it. "What Pokémon is that?"

"It's an abra." Winter informed him. "They're very rare to find and you never see them in Viridian forest."

"Must be someone else's then" Joe figured. Seconds after he said that a trainer, about the same age as Joe and Winter came bursting through the undergrowth and running towards the abra.

"There you are, abra." He said and unclipped a poké ball. "Enough teleporting about. In you go!" the abra moaned and returned to its poké ball. The trainer slid the ball back onto his belt and turned to head back down the road. Then he noticed the trio.

"Joe?" he said as he saw them. Joe stared back in amazement.

"Tom?" he replied.

"Joe!" the trainer exclaimed. "It really is you." He ran up to the due. Joe went to greet him. They stopped in front of each other and shook hands.

"Long time no see" the trainer said.

"I know." Joe said. "I haven't seen you in weeks. Not since you left with your own Pokémon." Joe took a step back. "Talking of that how has training been going?"

"It's been going well." The trainer replied. "Since I've left I've managed to add twenty different Pokémon to my Pokédex."

"Really?" Joe asked, astonished.

"True story." The Trainer, 'Tom', confirmed. "I was heading back to Pallet town to deliver a message to your uncle as a matter of fact. Someone gave me a parcel to hand over to him back in Pewter City." He drew a small paper envelope out of his bag. "I was going to hand it to you but now that you're here I may as well take it myself."

"It's still good to see you though, mate." Joe told him. He looked back and saw Winter and Ralph waiting behind them patiently. "Where are my manners?" Joe asked. "Winter, this is a good friend and rival of mine, Tom. Tom, this is Winter."

"Nice to meet you." Tom told her and they shook hands too. "Are you a trainer as well?" He asked her.

"Sort of." She confirmed. "I train with water types." Tom smiled.

"Good for you. Water types are very good with special attacks." He looked at the Crobat that had come with them. "And what kind of Pokémon is this?" he asked.

"That's Ralph." Joe informed him. "He's a Crobat. One of those very rare Pokémon that you can't find in the wild."

"Then how did you come across it?" Tom asked

"He's my starter Pokémon" Joe confirmed.

Tom walked up to Ralph. "I don't think I've ever seen this kind of Pokémon before." He said. "Looks like a later evolution of Zubat" Ralph looked him in the eyes. He wasn't sure whether to trust this new trainer. Tom turned back to Joe. "I've just thought." He said. "You've just started off as a trainer, haven't you?"

"Yeah." Joe replied.

"So this is the perfect time not only to compare Pokémon but to also build or experience." Tom declared. He readied himself in a fighting stance. "So then… Joe, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

Only half a kilometre away Team Ace were moping about their loss to Ralph and Sting earlier in the day.

"I can't believe such a young trainer beat us so easily." Ross complained as he smashed his hand against a nearby tree. He then winced and recoiled his hand as he realised how much of a stupid move that was and kicked at the ground in frustration. "It's impossible!"

"Not to mention they poisoned Frank" Ruby added. "We had to use one of our Full heals that we bought in Celadon to fix him."

"That little Weedle was overpower. He must be using enhancers of some kind!" A third voice said. A third person was with them. He was the same age as them but his hair was dark red with a long point at the right side and his skin was slightly darker than theirs. He also had yellow eyes that glowed like light bulbs and Perfect white teeth. His voice was exactly the same as the Ditto that was a member of their team.

"Oh stop complaining, Frank!" Ruby Yelled demandingly at the third person. "It was your fault we lost to such a small Pokémon and such an undeveloped trainer so stop blaming it on others!" The third person suddenly pixelated and shifted into a machamp. It punched the closest tree in anger. It tipped, cracked and crashed into the undergrowth. Several pidgey's flew away in startled surprise.

"I should be tougher then this!" he shouted at the top of his voice. He then walked off to the corner to sulk.

"That purple flying Pokémon was something else, as well." Ross continued. "I don't know what it was but it was powerful, like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Looked like a later evolution of the Zubat family to me." Ruby added. "A Pokémon that rare and unusual must be worth thousands, maybe even millions, to collectors and traders around the world." She turned and smiled at Ross. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah." Ross replied. "We go and grab an ice-cream in the next town." Ruby slapped him around the head.

"No!" She snapped. "We steal that Pokémon!" Ross recovered from his blow to the head and gave an unsure expression.

"Stealing. But that would make us criminals. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea." Ruby sighed. Why did she have to be the smart, scheming one of the three.

"What's more important to you? Money or the law?" Ross thought for a couple of seconds. The choice seemed obvious to him.

"Fine." He decided.

"Perfect!" Ruby exclaimed. Let's go get us a rare Pokémon!"

"You know, you two seem to care more about other people's Pokémon then you do your own best friend." Frank pointed out.

"Oh stop moaning already." Ruby commanded "It was only a Weedle" Frank picked up another tree.

"It was a Weedle that beat me!" he shouted and hurled the tree forwards. It crashed into another tree and that one snapped and fell into another, and another, and another. Soon trees were falling over like dominoes. In several of the trees local Spearow were nesting high up in the branches. As they fell the spearow clung to the twigs and branches, desperate to keep their nests protected. After several seconds the crashing stopped and the dust settled. Over 20 trees lay smashed and cracked on the ground.

"Well done, Frank." Ruby said sarcastically." You've just aided deforestation." There was a quiet, rustling wind like sound. It was small and slow to begin with but quickly it got louder and louder and louder and louder until it deafened the entire forest. Suddenly an entire flock of spearow burst out of the dead trees and flocked in the air above them. Team Ace looked on in surprise and fear.

"Uh oh!" Frank exclaimed.

"That's not good!" Ross added. The spearow looked on towards them and they then charged, beaks pointed at the trio.

"Time to go!" Ruby exclaimed. They turned and ran. The spearow dived. They flew at the trio, pecking their backs, grabbing their hair as they ran on. Frank tried to swat them away but several spearow dived into his chest and he collapses, turning back into his small ditto form. As he lay still a spearow swooped down, grabbed him and flew off with him hanging from its claw.

"Put me down!" he yelled at it but it would not let go. Ross and Ruby tripped over a fallen log and fell flat on the ground. The spearow just passed strait over them, completely ignoring the two of them. The spearow carrying Frank flew slightly behind, he was clearly giving it a hard time. His yelling faded away as the spearow got further and further from Team Ace.

"There goes Frank." Ross said, attempting to be funny. Ruby just turned and looked at him, annoyed. A large, winged shadow passes overhead. It glided gracefully past the two trainers and flew onwards in the same direction as the Spearow flock. Ross and Ruby followed it, mouths open. Ross got up and wiped the mud and leaves of his sleeves.

"Well, he's a goner. Nothing we can do there." Ruby turned angrily towards him.

"Well come on!" she shouted "Get after him!" the duo got up and ran after their still yelling ditto friend.

Joe and Tom stood looking face to face, about 5 meters apart from each other, a poké ball gripped in their hand.

"Go Abra!" Tom commanded.

"Come on out, Pippy!" Joe yelled.

They both threw their poké balls out and they flicked open. Joe's Pikachu appeared out of his pokéball; Tom's Abra appeared out of its pokéball.

"Do you nickname all your Pokémon?" Tom asked.

"Yeah." Joe replied. "Helps me build a closer bond with my team."

"That's an interesting theory you've got there." Tom commented.

"I guess you could say that." Joe said. "But never mind that. Let's battle" He flung his hand out and pointed to abra. "Pippy, use Quick…"

"Why did you do that with your hand?" Winter interrupted from the side line.

Joe turned to look at her, confused. "I thought it was what all Pokémon trainers did." he replied. Winter shook her head.

"No." She told him, pitifully. "Only Gym Leaders and trainers on TV shows do that. Normal trainers don't use suck stupid actions to instruct their team."

Joe looked at her, slightly damp spirited. "I'll remember that next time." He confirmed. He turned back to the battle. "Ok." He continued "Pippy, use quick attack!" Pippy dashed forward towards abra at lightning speed, almost invisible. Just before Pippy crashed into abra, it vanished into a tiny ball of light and within a second it was gone. Pippy skidded to a halt in surprise. He looked around. Abra reappeared behind him, giggling to itself. The little Pikachu spun around, growled and charged off again towards Tom's Pokémon. Yet again it teleported into thin air. This time Pippy couldn't stop. He skidded forward, dust trailing up behind him and crashed into a nearby tree.

"Ouch!" Winter winced. Joe stood firm, the energy of the battle giving him the will to continue. Pippy managed to get himself back up but he was clearly finding it hard to stay standing, tilting from side to side with dizziness.

"You can do it, Pippy!" Joe edged on. "Use thunder shock!" Pippy nodded back to him and let loose a small electric bolt from his body and aimed it at abra. Abra dodged by teleporting to the left but Pippy anticipated this action. He let loose a second bolt aimed at the left quickly after the first. It shot forward and struck abra. It wailed and collapsed to the ground. Tom groaned and drew back abra.

"Clever." He complimented.

"Nice work, Pippy." Joe cheered. Winter clapped encouragingly. Pippy smiled back at them and prepared to continue fighting… and then he collapsed, exhausted. "Oh no." Joe exclaimed and ran towards his unconscious team member. He picked the tiny Pokémon up in his arms. Pippy groaned with pain and exhaustion. "Good work buddy." Joe told him. "Take a rest for a while." Joe pulled out Pippy's poké ball and withdrew him back.

"One down each." Tom noted. "And down to my last Pokémon." He unclipped his second poké ball and held it in his hand. He pulled back his arm. "Go Squirtle!" he released his arm and the ball went flying forwards into the field. It flicked open and a small blue Squirtle appeared on the field. Joe turned back to the battle and pulled out his own poké ball.

"Go Sting!" he yelled and threw the ball. Now it was water Vs bug, Insect Vs reptile, Kakuna Vs Squirtle.

"Tackle him, Squirtle!" Tom commanded.

"Use harden!" Joe yelled." Stings shell went tough in preparation for Squirtle's attack. Squirtle smashed into him and knocked him over, head over shell. Sting rolled himself back up and was knocked strait over again by a second tackle. He rolled back up again and prepared his shell for another attack.

"Use bubble!" Tom yelled. Squirtle took a breath in and as he exhaled a bunch of bubbled floated out towards Sting.

"Quick, Sting. Pop them before they hit you!" Joe shouted. Sting replied and fired a small purple dart at the incoming bubbles. It hit one and it burst. He fired a couple more and another couple of bubbles evaporated into the air. Soon all the bubbles were popped. Squirtle growled and prepared for another tackle. Sting hardened his shell again and Squirtle charged forward. This time instead of sting being knocked down Squirtle was knocked back. He fell flat on his shell and flailed about, trying to get back up.

"Damn!" Tom exclaimed.

"Good work, Sting!" Joe whooped with joy. "We'll win this for sure."

There was a yelling in the distance. A crash of feet. A rustling of leaves. Ross and Ruby came rushing through the forest undergrowth and crashed into Joe and Winter.

"What in the…" Joe exclaimed. "Team Ace?"

"What are you doing?" Winter asked as she pushed Ross of her lap.

"We gotta run!" Ross yelled at her. His eyes full of fear. "There's a flock of spearow behind us and they're coming this way. As he said it the area filled with shrieking of Pokémon and an army of spearow came into view, a small Pokémon being held by one of them. They caught sight of the trainers and prepared to dive bomb them.

"Oh my Deities!" Winter shouted.

"Everybody run!" Joe commanded. They all pushed themselves up and ran, the Spearow following now closely behind them. Ross and Ruby shot ahead of the others, running so fast their legs were a blur. Joe, Winter, Ralph and Tom were following closely behind. Joe carried Sting in his arms. Winters hair got caught around a branch and she was pulled back.

"Ahh!" she screamed and grabbed the branch, trying to free herself. "Help me out!" Joe stopped and ran back for her. Ralph and Tom followed. He grabbed the branch too and tried to snap it of but it wouldn't budge. The closest spearow took advantage and dived down, aimed at her back. A sudden jet of water flew past the two trainers and hit the spearow right before it struck Winter. Tom's Squirtle had arrived and was defending them while they freed her.

"Ralph, snap the branch!" Joe commanded. Ralph nodded, flew up to the branch and brought his wing smashing down onto it. There was a blur of wind and the sound of snapping wood and the branch flew up into the air and released Winter from its grasp. They continued to run on again. Soon they caught up with Ross and Ruby again who has started to tire. Joe just notice they were missing someone.

"Where's your Pokémon?" Joe asked.

"He's back there!" Ross yelled and pointed back at the flock of Spearow. In the distance Joe could hear the annoyed cries of the third member of Team Ace as they carried him along. Suddenly Ruby tripped over a branch and went flying forwards. She lunged out, grabbed Ross's shoulder and pulled him down too. They lay sprawled over the forest floor and Joe caught his foot and Ross's leg. Winter caught her foot on Ruby's leg and Ralph, in an attempt to stop them falling was pulled down too. Only Tom was still standing. He stopped to help them all up. Joe spat a bunch of leaves out of his mouth and looked around.

"Where's Sting?" he asked, desperately looking for the poor kakuna. He caught sight of him flailing around on his back a couple of metres away.

"Oh my god!" Joe exclaimed and ran towards him, hand out to grab him up. And then suddenly, THUD! Something Giant and Orangey-Brown landed right between him and Sting. It looked at Joe with one large, gleaming eye and turned its head, knocking Joe on the side of the head by a long, sharp beak. He fell backwards onto the grass and leaves. His vision blurred for a couple of seconds but when he got it back he could see two giant wings fold in and left a giant bird Pokémon standing over Sting. He looked absolutely terrified. It his fear he tried to fire a poison dart at the Pokémon. It hit it in the shoulder but the Pokémon didn't even react. It let out a loud cawing of annoyance. Sting's expression went from defended concentration to stunned fear. The bird Pokémon lent down and grabbed Sting in its long beak.

"Sting!" Joe shouted and tried to scare the Pokémon of. It turned, looked at him and flapped its enormous wings once. The shockwave it created sent them all flying backwards onto the ground. It took off into the sky, Sting hanging in its beak, his eyes bulging, terrified. The smaller Spearow followed after it, squawking, Frank still hanging from one of them.

Joe knelt on the ground, arms limp against his sides, tears rolling down his face. Tom walked over to his friend and placed a kind hand on his shoulder.

"Joe. It's ok" he told him. Joe just sat knelt there, starring at the ground In front of him.

"I can't believe I lost a Pokémon." He said to himself, bewildered and lost in his own thoughts.

"These things happen." Tom told him. "Even the best trainers lose their Pokémon now and then." Joe wiped a tear from his eye.

"But I've just started out training. How can I expect to become even slightly good when I lose a Pokémon this early on." Joe argued back.

"Oh stop moaning." Ruby commented, bitterly. "It's just a Pokémon. And a weak one at that." Joe spun around, eyes blazing. He was furious that anyone would dare say that about his team. He ran at Ruby, fists clenched. Tom and Winter grabbed hold of him by the arms to stop him lashing out at her. Ralph flew in front of them to keep them back.

"Calm down, you crazy Tauros." Ross laughed. "No need to stampede us over a simple comment. We simply feel that you are getting too emotional over a simple animal." Joe struggled in his friends grip, desperately trying to escape so he could 'explain' to these idiots why he was upset.

"You are horrible people!" Winter said, angrily. "Do you have any idea how it feels to lose a member of your Pokémon? Your own team mate was taken by that flock of spearow and you act like he doesn't even matter!"

"Well, to be fare he did disturb their nest." Ross argued.

"So in a way those spearow are teaching him a lesson in that it's not a good idea to punch down trees." Ruby agreed. Tom and Winter just stared at the two of them in amazement.

"How is that fair?" Tom asked.

"Does it matter?" Joe asked as he finally stopped struggling. "What are we going to do to get Sting back?" they all stood for a minute, thinking.

"What direction were the spearow heading in?" Winter asked. Ross unclipped a small golden encased compass from his belt and flicked the lid open.

"Well, they headed of in that direction…" Ross said, pointing of towards the forest behind the trio. "So they're heading east."

"Good." Continued Tom. "If we keep heading in that direction we should find their nest." He decided. He started walking in that direction and then he noticed that the others weren't moving. He turned back to them. "Well come on!" he called encouragingly. "We won't get our friends back if we don't go after them."

The group trekked along the forest floor in a hurry. Joe had managed to calm down but he was still looking back at Ross and Ruby, making sure they weren't planning to run off or surprise them in any other way. Ralph was scouting ahead, looking for any signs of the Spearow flock.

"This is hopeless!" Ross called from the back of the group. "They must be miles ahead of us now. We'll never find them"

Joe turned back to them, angrily. "We're not giving up on them now." He shouted. He turned back around "Winter, can you see Ralph"

"No" she replied "He's still scouting above." Ralph meanwhile had pushed his way through the forest roof and was now looking above the trees. He scanned the trees until he finally saw several Spearow hovering over an area of tree's that even from far away could be seen with small nests on the high branches. Ralph squinted his eyes to see if he could find any hint of his team mate. And then suddenly he caught a glimpse of something small, thin and Brownish-yellow. A sad, lonely, frightened Kakuna lay against a small nest near the bottom of the nesting area. Sting. Ralph swooped down and burst back through the canopy and glided down in front of Winter. She yelped in surprise but after seeing it was Ralph she relaxed. "Did you have to do that?" she asked him. Ralph looked at her a little confused. Joe and Tom had arrived on the scene now.

"Ralph, did you find out where the Spearow went? Joe asked. Ralph Nodded. "Where?" Ralph gestured a wing towards the way they'd been heading. He then flapped behind the trio and pushed those forwards at high speed with his front wings. Ross and Ruby ran after them

"Don't leave us behind!" Ross shouted.

They ran on and on, soon coming to a bunch of unusually large trees. Some had small twig nests made in them. Above them a bunch of Spearows were flapping around in the air, guarding the tests. Another bunch could clearly be seen building more nests and more were perched on edges. Ralph flew over to a specific tree and pointed towards it.

"Is he up here?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded. Joe looked up. The branches were think and the tree had several different nests in it. On top of that it was very high. He felt his legs begin to shake as he tried to gulp down the oncoming fear.

"I-I can't go up there" he said, shakily.

"Why not?" Winter asked.

"Uh…, um." Joe stumbled over his words. He was trying to think of an explanation that wouldn't make him look cowardly.

"What?" she asked.

"Sensitive territory." Tom warned her.

"Well…" He tried again.

"What's wrong?" She asked again.

"Look, I have a fear of heights" he said, embarrassed and ashamed. Winter, Tom and Ralph looked at him.

"So?" Winter asked, clearly not seeing how Joe was so embarrassed about.

"I am terrified of flying or being high up" Joe said, really confused that they didn't find this funny. Up until now most people who had found out this had laughed at him or poked fun at him. Tom had known for a long time about Joe's fear and, because Joe was his friend, tried to help him overcome it.

"So?" she asked again. Joe just looked back her.

"You don't find that funny?" he asked, confused.

"No." she told him. "Everyone's afraid of something. What's funny about that?"

"Nothing" Joe replied. Tom pulled out a large section of rope and handed it to Joe.

"So, get up there and get your friend back" he said, encouragingly. Joe looked at the rope in his hands and gripped it in his hands. Pulling his right hand holding the rope end back and swinging it around over his head. Suddenly he threw his arm forward and released. The rope flew up into the air, skimmed up the side of the tree and wrapped itself around a very high branch, knotting itself to place. He tugged the rope to make sure it wouldn't come loose, tied the end around his belt so he wouldn't fall and began to make his way up the tree. Pulling himself up by the rope and using his legs to steer, Joe slowly made his way up the side of the tree. Branches tugged at his clothes and hair but he still pushed on, fighting the urge to look down. He reached one of the spearow nests and pulled himself up to look over the rim. A bunch of spearow were building up the nest inside and so far hadn't noticed, except for one which was sitting against the wall of twigs and looking straight at him.

"You took your time." It said, both annoyed and stressed.

"Frank?" Joe asked.

"Who did you think it was?" Frank asked sarcastically "but going back to my last question. What took you so long? I've been waiting here, a prisoner for over an hour!"

"Wait. If you can change into their form, why don't you just fly off? They wouldn't attack you. "

"Hmmm." Frank pondered. "I hadn't thought of that."

"That makes sense" Joe grabbed a branch above him and began pulling himself higher up the tree.

"Hold up a second!" Frank said, suddenly. "Don't leave me here. Take me with you, or at least take me down."

"I can't take you back down. That would take too long and we need to get Sting back as soon as possible.

"Well tough!" Frank yelled suddenly and lunged at Joe, grabbing the rope he had tied around his belt.

"Get off!" Joe yelled and tried to swat him away. "You can fly! Just flap your way down!" Frank let go of the rope and tried to stay in the air but was clearly struggling.

"I'm not naturally meant to fly!" he yelled and fell out of the air. Crash! Ruby caught Frank in her arms just before he hit the ground. Joe meanwhile was desperately trying to hold on to the rope he was tied around. He grabbed the nearest branch and 'SNAP', the rope around his belt fell away in two pieces and he was left hanging from a branch. He was left hanging their looking down at the forest floor. The fear came back again, more overwhelming and nerve gripping then before. He wanted to let go so that he knew he would at least be back on the ground, but at the same time he wanted to cling on for dear life, desperate not to give in to gravity's pull. 'No' he thought. 'I'm not giving up like this. Not while I can still save my friend' he pulled himself up and grabbed a higher up branch and kept climbing. He reached another nest and pulled himself over. Sitting inside were several grumpy spearow. Upon sighting him they attacked. They dived at Joe and tugged at his hair. Joe swatted them away and kept on climbing.

A couple of the spearow broke away and flew at the others below.

"Look out!" Winter shouted.

"We can take care of them" Tom said and released Squirtle. Winter nodded and brought out Staryu to fight the spearow of. While this was going on Joe kept climbing up and up, higher up the tree. He reached another nest and peered over. There inside the nest, at the back, surrounded by several Spearow eggs was a small, brownish-yellow Kakuna, looking terrified out of his mind.

"Sting!" Joe yelled with Joy and pulled himself into the nest. He ran towards his friend and grabbed him in his arms. "You're ok!" Sting smiled at him, joyfully (Or the best smile he could do without a mouth) "Don't worry, we'll get you back down." Joe told him, reassuringly. There was a sudden heavy movement of air behind him. Joe turned to see the large Brown bird land behind him. This time he got a proper view of it. The Pokémon was huge, at least 3 feet tall. It's two, huge wings spanned out 3 times the size of its body. It's long, sharp peak almost poked into Joes face and the whites of its eyes caught the son as it passed overhead. And it was angry.

"Fearow" Joe exclaimed. "Should have known, I guess." he took a step back. Fearow took a step forward. Joe took another step back. Fearow took another step forward. Joe turned and ran towards the edge of the nest and Fearow took off. It circled above him as he began to climb back down the tree. And then it dived. It crashed past Joe and sting and knocked him off balance.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. He tried to get balance but his finger slipped of the branch and he fell.

Down below Ralph, Winter and Tom had just finished fighting of the spearow. Ralph looked up to check if Joe was done and saw his trainer plummeting down from a very high up branch, the tiny Sting held in his arms. As soon as he saw this ralph swooped of towards his friend. He aimed for precisely underneath them. 'Thud' Joe crashed onto Ralphs back and with the sudden surprise of the extra wait he crashed onto the forest floor. The Fearow dived again, now aiming at Ralph. Joe saw it.

"Look out!" He shouted and pushed Ralph aside as the Fearow landed right where they had been standing. It cawed and turned to fight them. Joe stood up weakly and Ralph was struggling to sway up. Sting was the only one who was strong enough to fight.

"Ok, Sting." Joe said, reassuringly. "You can take this Fearow, can't you?" Sting looked back at Joe and nodded.

"Ok then." He said and put sting onto the ground. Ralph flew back to Join Joe at the side.

"Sting, use String shot." Joe commanded. Sting shot out a small beam of sticky spider string that wrapped around the Fearow's wings and beak, leaving it trying to break free. Sting took advantage of this and used poison sting, striking the Fearow in the back. If flinched and struggled even more. The string broke away and the Fearow lunged at sting, beak open. Sting hardened his shell and the Fearow let out a caw of pain as it tried to bite down on the tiny Kakuna.

"Keep going Sting!" Joe yelled in encouragement. "You can do it". There was a flash light and, like earlier, Sting started to glow until he was nothing but a white silhouette. The light pulsed like before and changed shape. And then suddenly it all stopped. Sting was no longer a Kakuna. Joe's small friend was now 3 foot tall, almost the same size as the Fearow. It now had black stripes covering its totally yellow body and two very thin arms that ended with drill like stingers. It had two see-through wings on its back that made a loud buzzing sound when the flapped. And finally the stinger on its tail had returned but now it was longer and more pointed. Sting was now a Beedrill.

"All right!" Joe exclaimed. "Now this fight will be a lot easier. Ralph didn't look as happy about Stings new form. He wasn't too keen on Beedrills ever since the incident with that swarm on the hill when they met.

"Sting, use Fury Attack!" Joe commanded. Sting charged the Fearow and jabbed it several times in the chest with its front stingers. The Fearow let out a painful caw and swiped at sting with its wing. Sting dodged and lunged again, this time hitting it from behind. After a couple more hits the Fearow finally gave in and flew off, leaving the trainers alone. The Spearow followed it.

"We god rid of them" Winter said as Joe, Ralph and Sting joined back with the group.

"We should keep going on to Pewter City." Joe decided. Then he noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Ross and Ruby?"

"They ran off" Tom explained. "They got their friend back and ran off, into the woods."  
"I expect we'll probably run into them again at some point." Joe told them. "Let's go".

The Trio finally arrived at the exit to Viridian forest. They had finally reached Pewter city.

"Thanks for joining us for a while, Tom." Joe said, holding out his hand. Tom took his hand and shook it.

"I was nice meeting up again." He agreed. "We should have another battle next time we meet" he thought.

"Will do." Joe agreed. Tom let go and walked up to winter and they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, as well." He said, gentlemanly. Winter blushed.

"Nice to meet you, too." She said. Tom started to walk back the way they came and winter and Joe took their first steps into a new city.


	5. Chapter 5: The Earth Brothers

"Here are your Pokémon." the nurse at the Pokémon centre said to Joe as she handed over three poké balls. He and Winter had finally reached Pewter city after their tough journey through the forest and his team were exhausted from all the training.

"Thank you, Nurse." He said as he took back his poké balls and clipped the two normal, red balls onto his belt. He then opened the white ball to let Ralph out.

"Come back any time." The nurse called after the trio as they left.

"So what's your plan now?" Winter asked.

"Well there's a gym in this city so I could always challenge them." He told her. "Try and improve my skills and all.

"We could always visit the museum here." Winter mentioned. "I heard they have many rare fossils that are worth looking at. I also hear the Gym leader hangs around there often. We might bump into him."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Joe agreed.

The museum itself was nothing more than a large manor house made of chalk white stone. It was over twice the length of all other buildings in the village and was renowned throughout Kanto for having the largest collection of Pokémon fossils on display. Joe and Winter were already inside the museum. Ralph was not with them. Pokémon were not allowed inside the museum for fear that they might attempt to chew on the fossils on display, so he'd had to be left outside the museum waiting for them. Joe had attempted an argument with the security team in order to try and get him in but to no avail. They didn't leave him outside alone though. Winter had let Staryu out for a bit of time to keep him company. Joe and Winter inside were looking at the 'large' selection of ancient fossil on display. There weren't just Pokémon fossils on display. There was also ruins, symbols, stone weapons and equipment, fossilized plant life, sea shells and a wide variety more. Joe let out a loud yawn. He wasn't too interested in history. To him these ancient fossils looked lake useless, cut stones. In truth, the only reason he was there was to kill time.

"Come look at this." Winter said and pointed at a small, dome fossil to the right of the casing. "If I'm correct, that's the fossil of a Kabuto." She educated. "An ancient Pokémon that used to live in this region way back at the dawn of our planet."

"Some people think Pokémon come from space." Joe added

"Some" winter agreed. "I don't agree with that belief" she turned and walked over to the centre display. Joe joined her. "What Pokémon do you think that is?" she asked and pointed at a large skeleton of a dragon-like Pokémon.

"I don't know." Joe replied. "Some type of Dragon I guess."

"You'd be right there." Said a voice from behind them. They turned. In front of them stood two young trainers, about the same age as Joe and Winter. The one on the left had a mild tan and blue eyes with light brown hair. He was wearing a pale brown, long sleeved shirt with crossed Sandslash claws as a logo and dark brown cargo pants. The other boy was almost exactly opposite. He was taller and paler than his friend with brown eyes and very dark brown hair. He wore a dark brown shirt with an Onix tail crossing the centre as the logo underneath a grey hoodie and Light blue jeans.

"This skeleton belonged to a Dragonite." The boy on the left said.

"A Pokémon that is still around today." The other boy said.

"But where are our manors?" the boy on the left said. "I'm Gordon." He announced.

"And I'm Rocky." The other boy joined in. "And we're the Gym leaders of this city."

"You're the gym leaders?" Winter pondered. "Last I heard the Gym leader of this city was called Brock."

"He left a couple of years ago." Gordon said. "We took his place recently."

"If either of you were planning to challenge the gym we're there 12 hours a day from dawn to dusk." Rocky added.

"I was planning to challenge it" Joe told them. "I just need to get my Pokémon from outside."

"Was that Crobat and Staryu sitting outside your Pokémon?" Gordon asked.

"The Crobat is." Joe answered.

"You might want to train it up then." Rocky told him "or catch yourself a water or grass type Pokémon."

"You see we're the Earth Brothers." Gordon told him. "I use ground type Pokémon and Rocky here uses Rock Pokémon. Flying types don't stand a chance against us."

"Well, thank you for that." Joe said

"We'll see you at the Gym." Rocky said and the duo walked out.

"Are you still going to challenge them?" Winter asked.

"Yeah." Joe told her. "I'm not backing down on a challenge. And this is going to be a tough one."

Joe walked through the doorway to Pewter city gym. Inside wasn't too surprising. The entirety of the building looked like a Pokémon coliseum. In the centre of the battle field stood the two gym leaders. Joe walked up to the centre and stood in front of them. Winter stood at the sides, watching.

"You come to challenge our gym." Gordon said. "And earn yourself the boulder badge."

"But are you prepared to fight your first Gym leaders?" Rocky added. "The strongest trainers in this town?" Joe nodded

"I am." He said.

"Then we shall see who you will battle first." Gordon said. Suddenly a large screen dropped down from the darkness above and hung several meters above the ground. On these screen was a large golden coin that spun slowly. On one side was the image of a large rock, on the other was a clump of ground.

"Spin the coin to decide." Rocky announced. "Gordon pressed a button and the coin started to spin fast. It went on and on until it finally stopped on the side with the earth on it.

"I will be the first to fight you, then." Gordon announced. Take your place at the edge of the field.

Joe was in position, looking directly at his opponent, Gordon the Gym leader. The screen had changed to show the battle field and health of the fighting Pokémon. Rocky pressed another button and the field changed from being flat and shiny to being rough and sandy to create a field to increase the power of ground types.

"Go Sandshrew!" Gordon yelled and release a poké ball that flew onto the field. A sandshrew appeared on the field, ready to fight

"Come on out, Sting!" Joe commanded and threw out Stings Pokémon. On the board the stats for both Sting and Sandshrew had appeared. The two Pokémon stared each other down.

"Sting used Twin needle!" Joe commanded. Sting flew at sandshrew, stingers pointing.

"Sandshrew, evade it!" Gordon instructed. Sandshrew ran at Sting and dodged out of the way of his attack. "Now used tackle!" Gordon instructed again. Sandshrew ran into sting from side of and knocked him down. On the screen Stings health bar dropped slightly.

"Use poison sting!" Joe commanded. Sting lunged at sandshrew and stabbed it in the chest with a purple stinger, but Sandshrew didn't react. Its health bar hardly moved. "Huh?" Joe said, confused. "How come it didn't do anything?" he asked.

"Didn't you know?" Gordon said "Ground type is strong against poison type. It doesn't take much damage from poison moves.

"Damn." Joe cursed. "Ok. Sting, use Fury attack. Sting started jabbing at Sandshrew and hit it 3 times before it dodged all the other hits. Its health bare dropped a bit more. "Again!" Joe yelled.

"Look out!" Gordon cried. Sting threw jab after jab after jab at Sandshrew and, even though it managed to dodge a couple, it was slowly loosing health. Its health bar was now half way down now. "Slash!" Gordon yelled. Sandshrew swiped at Sting with a razor sharp claw and hit it in the chest. Stings health dropped dramatically.

"Twin needle!" Joe yelled. Sting stabbed both drill like stingers into Sandshrews chest at the same time and it hell back injured. Is lay, trying to get back up but its injuries got the better and Sandshrew fainted. Its health bar dropped completely to zero.

"I have been beaten." Gordon announced, embarrassed but not ashamed. "Congratulation. Now you need only beat Rocky." Rocky walked in from the sides.

"Prepare yourself." He said.

The battle field and score board had been reset. The field was changed again but this time it was a lot more rocky and rough and had large racks poking out of the ground.

"Go, Pippy." Joe shouted.

"Do it, Crash!" Rocky yelled. A large, stone snake appeared on Rocky's side of the battlefield. The Onix stared down at the tiny yellow mouse that opposed it.

"You nickname your Pokémon as well?" Joe questioned.

"Yeah." Rocky replied. "I always have. Gordon isn't in to that thing." And then he remembered the battle that was going on. "Enough talking. Crash, use tackle!" the Onix, Crash charged at Pippy.

"Look out, Pippy! Evade!" He yelled. Pippy jumped aside a s Crash came sliding past. It turned and came back. "Use thundershock!" Joe commanded. Pippy let out a small bolt of electricity at Crash but he just shook it of like it was nothing. Rocky laughed.

"Electricity doesn't affect ground types." He told him. ""Now Crash, use bind!" Crash rapped its long stone tail around the tiny Pikachu and gripped it tight. Pippy struggled to get free but Crash's bind had it held tight. On the screen Pippy's health was dropping dramatically.

"Come on, Pippy!" Joe yelled encouragingly. Winter Joined it.

"You can do it!" She shouted. Pippy tried using thundershock again but Crash didn't even react. Soon Pippy was too tired to carry on and collapsed in Crash's grip. He finally let go and Pippy lay on the ground, unconscious. Joe pulled out Pippy's poké ball.

"Good work buddy. Come back." The beam of light shot out, engulphed Pippy and drew him back in.

"Do you give up?" Rocky asked.

"No Joe said, reluctantly. "I still have one more Pokémon." He looked at Ralph who was clearly ready to avenge his friend.

"Ralph, use wing attack!" Joe commanded. Ralph flew at the giant stone snake and struck it on the side with its wing. Crash recoiled and its health bar dropped slightly.

"Use rock throw!" Rocky commanded. Crash lifted a large rock with its tail and threw it at Ralph but he dodged out of the way just in time.

"Bite!" Joe yelled. Ralph swooped down and bit into Crashes tail but let go quickly after. Ralph had damaged his teeth in that attack and both Pokémon had lost health.

"Strike him down!" Rocky yelled. Crash swung its tail and struck Ralph from above, knocking him backwards. "Now finish it with Rock throw!" Rocky added. Crash grabbed another stone and threw it at the Stunned Ralph. The rock sailed through the air towards the dazed Pokémon.

"Look out!" Joe yelled. Too late. The Rock sailed forwards and struck Ralph in the face. He collapsed, unconscious to the ground. The battle was over. Rocky had won.

The time went from 11:00AM to 7:00PM and the sun had almost disappeared over the horizon. Joe was sitting on a bench in the city park. He was still feeling depressed after being thrashed by Rocky. His team had tried so hard but they were no match for his Onix. It was like a tank. Now he could see why they had warned him about finding a strong grass or water type.

"It's not fair." He mumbled. "I tried so hard but it all lead to nothing."

"You can't win every battle." Winter told him. "So a Gym leader beat you on your first fight. You're not the only one. Most people experience this on their first time."

"It's just…" Joe tried. He sighed. "I just don't feel like I'm cut out for this. Being a trainer, I mean. It's a lot tougher than I ever thought it'd be." Ralph looked at him, concerned. He tried to tell Joe that 'he shouldn't put himself down. He just wasn't ready to fight them' but he remembered that people can't understand Poke-language.

"Well you could always try another town." Winter mentioned "Maybe try training up around there." Joe didn't respond. "Winter got up. "I'll go and check into the hotel." She said and walked off. Ralph perched himself on the empty space on the bench, next to his friend.

"What should we do, Ralph?" Joe asked him. Ralph shrugged. "Do you feel we need the extra work?" Joe asked. Ralph didn't know how to answer. He also felt that he failed but he didn't blame Joe. He knew he was trying. Ralph gave Joe a confident nod, saying that he was prepared to work to become a better Pokémon. "Yeah." Joe said, feeling more confident and proud. "We can get better. That's all part of being a trainer, isn't it?" Ralph nodded. "So that's that, then." Joe decided and stood up proud. "We'll become stronger and then we'll re-challenge the gym. That may take a long time but it is necessary to do so to become a better trainer."

"That may be sooner than you think." Said a voice from the shadows. Joe turned in surprise.

"Who's there?" he asked, cautiously.

Gordon walked out from the shadows. "It's me." He said "I've come to talk with you."

"Why?" Joe asked.

"I saw your battling with Rocky and I could see how strong you were but also how restrained you and your Pokémon are. I've come to offer you some assistance." Joe looked at him, grateful but also cautious.

"What kind of Assistance?" he asked

"I have a TM" Gordon said. "It contains a move Ralph can learn that'll help him beat Rocky's Pokémon" Joe was intrigued but he still wasn't sure if he should take help from a Gym leader.

"Why do you want to help me?" he asked.

"Because you have potential." He told him. "You have spirit and your Pokémon clearly respect you. I want to give you something that'll make your battles a bit easier." He took a step back. "But I cannot teach him here. I don't want people to see I've helped you." He turned and walked off and indicated that they follow him.

Gordon took Joe and Ralph to an old rundown warehouse just outside of town. Gordon opened the doors and flicked a wall switch. A weak light hardly lit the room. Inside was a small mechanical box with a CD slot and selection of buttons. Protruding from each side was a long wire with a plastic suction cup on the end. Behind the box was a chair. Joe thought it was some kind of Torture machine.

"This…" Gordon said as he walked up to the machine. "Is a Technical Machine Reader. Or a TMR for short. It reads the move data on the disk and sends that information to the Pokémon plugged in on the other end."

"It looks rather dangerous." Joe said.

"It's totally safe." Gordon reassured him. "This is full sized one but you can get miniature ones to carry around." He patted the top of the machine and it let out a weak whirring sound. "I can use this machine to teach your Crobat the move Steel Wing. It's a move that was found with the steel type Pokémon and it's strong against Rock types. I can teach it to Ralph for free." He nodded to Ralph. "So long as you two agree." Joe looked at his friend.

"Do you want to do this?" Joe asked him. Ralph looked at him for a couple of seconds. He nodded his agreement.

"Ok then." Gordon said. "If Ralph could come over here we'll get him plugged up.

The machine was set. Ralph was plugged in. he looked nervous but he didn't back out. He wanted to become stronger, just like his friend, Joe.

"Ok." Gordon said. "Here we go." He pushed the grey disk into the slot and pressed a small blue button on the machine. As soon as the button was pressed the machine began to whir and buzz. Electricity pulsed down the wires, up to the plastic cups and into Ralph. He winced and shut his eyes. From the way he did it Joe couldn't tell if he was thinking deeply or in pain. Joe crossed his fingers for luck. And then the machine began to slow until it stopped completely. The disk came back out of the machine, cracked all the way across and rendered useless.

"It's done" Gordon said. He walked up to Ralph and took the wires of.

"Ralph." Joe said, concerned. "Are you ok?" Ralph groaned. His eyes opened and he smiled.

The next day Joe went back to the Pokémon Gym, eager to re-challenge Rocky and earn his first badge. Rocky was waiting for them, the board had already been lowered and the field was already set.

"So, you wish to re-challenge me." Rocky said. "I will not deny that you don't discourage easily."

"My team is stronger than last time." Joe told him. "Don't expect another easy fight."

"Don't worry." Rocky told him. "I'm not." the battle began, Ralph on Joe's side, Crash on Rocky's.

"Crash, use tackle!" Rocky commanded. Crash charged at Ralph, head lowered. Ralph simply swooped out of the way leaving Crash to crash into the large rock that Ralph had been in front of.

"Use Steel Wing!" Joe instructed. "Aim for the head!" Ralph dived in while Crash was recovering and held his right front wing out solid. It glistened like polished metal in the light. The wing slashed across Crash's face and knocked him aside as Ralph flew past. Crash's health bar dropped dramatically, almost by 1 half. Ralph came back around for another hit, this time striking Crash on the back. Its health bar almost dropped completely.

"One last time, Ralph!" Joe commanded. Ralph turned and dived, wings spread.

"Quick, Crash. Use rock tomb!" Rocky shouted. Crash smashed his tail on the floor repeatedly and several rocks fell from the roof and around Ralph. Before Ralph could evade them one struck him from above on the head and he plummeted down to the floor. Before he hit the floor he managed to spread his wings again and began to gain height again.

"Good work Ralph!" Joe cheered. "Now finish him!" but before Ralph could attack again the foes Onix gripped him in its tail. Ralph struggled to get free but Crash held on tight.

"No!" Joe exclaimed. Rocky laughed.

"Looks like its game over again." He said. Suddenly Ralph pulled his head back, opened his mouth wide and bit into Onix's tail. It let out a yell of pain and Ralph was released from its grip. He took advantage and dived again, smashing his steel wing into Crash one final time. It teetered, swayed and collapsed, unconscious. Joe cheered with Joy. Ralph did several summersaults to show off. Rocky let out a disappointed sigh.

"You won." He said finally. "Congratulations. You've earned the right to be given the boulder badge." He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small square metal badge. It was shaped like a cut stone. "In commemoration of you beating this gym." Joe held out his hand and took the badge from Rocky.

"Thank you." He said. He felt amazed. He truly felt like a worthwhile trainer now.

"And take this as well" Rocky added and handed Joe a TM. Unlike the one for Steel Wing which was grey, this one was brown. "That TM contains the move Rock tomb.

"Before you go, I'd like to ask one thing." Rocky said. "Where did you learn that move?" he asked. "No member of the Zubat family ever learns that move naturally. So who taught him it?"

"I did" Said a voice from the sides. It was Gordon. "I thought our friend here could use some help."

"You know Gym leaders aren't supposed to give other trainers help in these battles." Rocky reminded him.

"But you were never really a gym leader." Gordon told him. "Not in your heart. You've always wanted to travel. Even I know that. Being a Gym leader is more of my kind of thing." Rocky looked at him confused.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"I'm saying you should go out there and travel the region." Gordon told him. "Build a team, breed Pokémon, help out orphan Pokémon, do whatever you want."

"You can come with us if you want." Joe offered.

"That's a great Idea." Winter said.

"I guess I could travel." Rocky thought. "I have always wanted to do something like that."

"That's settled then." Gordon said. "I'll stay as the only gym leader here. I'll obviously make a couple of changes, turning the gym into a ground type only gym. If you lot are ok with this plan."

"Fine with me." Joe said.

"Me, too" winter added.

"I'm fine with this." Rocky said.

"Good." Gordon finished. "It'd probably be best for you three to head off now." He added. "Come back and visit whenever you like."

And thus the Trio walked off into the horizon, headed now for Mt Moon, The quickest way to reach Celadon City and the second Gym. Unknown to the trio a shadow watched them from a distance. He had been following the group for a long time since he'd run into them in Viridian town before Team Rockets raid on the Pokémon centre. Two dark brown eyes watched them from outside a deep black hood. Satisfied that he knew enough the figure took a step back into the shadows and jumped, grabbing onto something as he did so. A golbat carried him away over the land and mountain towards his base where he planned to give his master all the information he had gathered.


	6. Chapter 6: Rockets in Mt Moon

The trio reached the pathway out of town that lead to Mt Moon. They were ready to move on. Joe was traveling to fight the next gym, Winter was traveling so she could meet a friend in Cerulean, the next town, and Rocky was traveling just so he could study Pokémon.

"Here we are again." Winter said. "Staring down a road into the future. Not knowing what may come. Traveling to learn and learning to grow. Though things may not always work out we know in our hearts that we shall always do our best to be our best." She turned to see three stunned faces.

"I didn't know you were a philosopher." Joe said, jokingly. She blushed, embarrassedly.

"Occasionally" she told him.

"How far away is Cerulean City?" Rocky asked.

"Hold on a sec." Joe said. "I have a map in my bag." Joe began rummaging in his bag for the map his uncle had pack when he left home with ralph less than a week ago.

"About 10 Miles" Winter answered. Joe looked at her again.

"How on earth do you know that?" Joe asked as he pulled out the map and read it.

"Lucky guess?" She said, sheepishly.

"Only problem is we have to pass through Mount Moon to get there from this way." Rocky told them as he looked at the map.

"He's got a point." Winter added.

"So" Joe said. "It won't be so tough. It's only an extra Mile or so."

"Hey there. You three." A voice said from behind them. A man in a white lab coat and spectacles was running towards them, a large box held in his hands. One of Professor Oak's Aids. He stopped in front of the trio.

"Are any of you named Joe Glende, by any chance?" He asked them in a geeky, nasal voice.

"I am" Joe said and walked forwards. The Aid handed him the box. The box was very heavy and made of a simple tough cardboard.

"I was sent by your Uncle, Walker Glende, to deliver this parcel to you." He said. "He didn't say what's inside but I expect it's probably personal. There's also a letter to go with it" he put the letter on top of the box. And with that the Aid walked away, back to Pallet town.

"That was quick." Winter said.

"My uncle sent me something? I wonder what's inside?" Joe pondered. He put the box down for a second and read the letter aloud. It said…

"Dear Joe

I recently heard of your success in beating the Pewter City Gym and I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you I am. It feels like yesterday you were deciding on your first Pokémon but that was only 3 days ago. I still remember the day you first arrived at my house. I am also proud of how much you've grown in skill. I heard about your team. Catching a Pikachu can be very tough but training a Weedle all the way to becoming a Beedrill so soon isn't in any way easy.

Anyway, as you know I don't only grow crops on the farm, I also breed Pokémon for Trainers, pets and Rich family's. But specifically I breed the three starters of this region, Squirtle, Charmander and Bulbasaur for Professor Oak who gives them to new trainers. Your friend, Tom's Squirtle was bred by me. I just spoke with Professor Oak and we came to a decision to send you another Pokémon. Inside you will find a small friend."

Joe looked down at the box bellow him. It shook a little and there was a muffled noise coming from inside. It sounded like something faintly crying 'Baa… Bulbaa…'

"I wonder what Pokémon he sent me" he though aloud. Joe bent down and lifted up the box lid. A tiny little light turquoise Pokémon looked up at him. A large bulb grew out of its back. It sat on its four small fat legs and smiled up at Joe.

"Bulba" it said happily in Poke-speech.

"A Bulbasaur." Said Winter. "Does he have a name?" Joe read the letter again.

"If you have just opened the box you should know what Pokémon will be joining you. His name is Pitt and he's Flower's grandson. Treat him well as he'll prove to be very useful in the future. He's still very young however and hasn't had any experience in a fight. Take care of him and look after yourself. I'll see you soon.

You're Uncle"

"Pitt's an unusual name" Rocky said.

"My uncle gives his Pokémon unusual names" Joe told them. "He thinks it makes them more unique." Joe knelt down towards the tiny bulbasaur sitting in the box. "I was considering choosing bulbasaur as a starter." He told them. "That was before I met Ralph, however." Joe held out his hand to pet his new member. Pitt looked up at his hand and stared at it for a couple of seconds. And then he lunged forwards.

"Ouch!" Joe exclaimed as Pitt bit into his hand. Joe shook him off and Pitt sat laughing Joyfully.

"You little…" Joe exclaimed, angrily.

"That's not a nice way to treat your Trainer." Winter told it. Pitt looked at her and stuck his tongue out, mockingly.

"Very naughty nature for a bulbasaur." Rocky pointed out. Pitt replied to this by growing a couple of vines from out of the bulb on its back and nocking both Joe and Rocky around the head with one of them. Joe growled, angrily. He was fighting the urge to teach this little pest a lesson. He bent down ant took the poké ball that had been left next to it.

"Ok, in you go." He said and opened the ball. Pitt disappeared in a bunch of white beams and went back inside the ball. Joe then clipped it away on his belt. "I'm grateful that my Uncle sent me one of his own Pokémon and all…" he started. "But couldn't he send me one that doesn't get a kick out of attacking its trainer?"

"It'll grow on you." Winter told him. Joe gave her an expression that said 'Ha ha. You're so very funny'.

"No pun intended" Winter said quickly, seeing his expression.

"We should head on" Rocky interrupted. "If we want to get to Cerulean city."

"Let's go then." Joe said. The trio set of on the road again, Ralph following closely.

Soon they came to the cave entrance of Mount Moon, just outside of the pathway and a large field of tall grass. The inside of the cave was incredibly dark. The trio couldn't see anything inside the cave, whatsoever.

"It sure is dark in there." Winter said.

"Anyone got a torch?" Joe asked.

"I have a couple." Rocky told them, "give me a second." He dug through his bag and pulled out two flashlights and a head torch. "Here we are." He announced and handed Joe and Winter the two flashlights. They switched on the lights and looked inside. The cave was small and narrow on the inside and from what they could see it got narrower as it went on.

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere standing here." Joe announced. "Let's get going. Ralph, lead the way. Ralph nodded and flew through the entrance, Joe behind him followed by Rocky and Winter at the very back.

"I'm not too keen on the dark!" she told them, shaking slightly. Her foot stood in something moist and quick and she let out a terrified scream. She pointed the light on it but saw that she's only stepped in a small puddle of water. She sighed and saw the other three looking at her, annoyed. "Sorry." She smiled, embarrassedly. The team kept on walking.

Not too far away, unknown to Joe and the others, Team Ace had come up with a plan to catch stronger Pokémon. Only a couple of feet away from them, just around the corner, was a sleeping horde of machop.

"Ok, this is the plan." Ruby said as the trio huddled together. "Frank here scares those machop over there into a frenzy which will drive them towards the large net over there. While they're caught in the net me and Ross catch as many as we can to add to our team." The trio moved out. "Alright boys!" she said. "Let's get this plan moving!"

Frank transformed into a slightly darker skinned machop and strolled into the middle of the group.

"Wakey wakey you lazy lot!" he shouted at the top of his voice. The startled machop looked around to see a slightly different looking machop standing at the centre of the group shouting and stamping his feet on the ground. "You lot are so useless I wouldn't hire you to pick up garbage" Frank shouted, abusively. The machops growled in anger at him, clenching their fists. Seeing that he had their attention, Frank continued "In fact you are so useless I wouldn't ask you to just stand around in case you forgot!" this made the machop go crazy. They let out challenging yells and smashed their fists on the ground and floor. The cave shook and several stalactites fell from the ceiling and landed in various locations. One hit a machop on the head and nocked it out, another two almost his Frank who was lucky enough to dodge out of their way. And then suddenly the machops charged him. "Know what do I do?" Frank asked, suddenly realising how stupid this move was.

"Run you idiot!" Ruby whispered. Frank ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the net. "Not that way!" Ruby shouted after him. Too late. The machop were already chasing him down the tunnel he ran through. Unknown to Frank, Joe and his friends were heading up that exact same tunnel at that exact same time.

Ralph was leading the group forward quite confidently, then he heard something storming towards them in the distance. His ears pricked up and he squinted to see what was coming.  
"What is it, Ralph?" Joe asked. "What's wrong?"

"Listen." Rocky said, holding his finger to his lips. "Do you hear that?" he asked. The trio held their hands against their ears, trying to hear what Ralph could hear. Joe could hear a mild thudding from far away in the distance, slowly getting closer and closer towards the four of them.

"Sounds like a stampede." Winter said. The ground began to shake now. In the distance there was a scream. A person scream.

"What was that?" Rocky asked.

"It sounded like…" Joe started. Before he could finish a machop, darker skinned then a normal machop was running at them at a quick pace. Behind him was an army of angry machops that were chasing after him.

"Get them away from me!" it shouted.

"Frank?" Winter questioned.

"Who's Frank?" Rocky asked.

"The sidekick for Team Ace." Joe told him. "I knew they must be doing something to annoy someone or something. They always are" Joe took out a poké ball from his belt. "We can take care of these angry machop. Go, Pitt!" he threw the ball and Pitt appeared, ready for a battle. "Pitt, use razor leaf, take them down!" Pitt just stood still. Joe looked down at him. "What are you doing, Pitt? Attack them!" Pitt shock his head defiantly. He didn't have to take orders from this trainer he didn't even know.

"We'll help out." Winter told Joe "While you try and get Pitt to behave." She released her Staryu and Rocky joined her with Crash, his Onyx. They stood in front of the charging machop, ready to defend their team. Frank ran past them, wailing like a ship fog horn. And then the Machop reached them and the fight began.

"Rock throw!" Rocky commanded.

"Water gun!" Winter ordered. Several machop were knocked back by a flying boulder and a couple more were dowsed by a jet of water.

"Come on, Pitt." Joe pleaded. "Why won't you listen to your trainer?" Pitt just turned his head from him, defiantly. "Come on. Just do one attack for me." Joe begged him. "Just one vine whip?" Pitt sighed and turned around in a fighting stance. "Ok. Good. Use vine whip!" Pitt did exactly as Joe told him. A pair of vines shot out of Pitt's bulb and smacked Joe on the cheeks. "**Not on me!**" he yelled furiously. Pitt rolled around on the floor, laughing manically. Rocky and winter battled on against the machop hoard. A pokè ball flew through the crowd and caught something inside it.

"Come on, Joe." Winter yelled, getting more stressed. "Do something to help us." Joe had had enough trying to get Pitt to behave.

"Ralph, help them out." He said, giving up. Ralph nodded solemnly and gave a huge flap of his wings. The wind wave he made knocked over all of the Pokémon in battle, even Rocky's Onix. A wave of dust was lifted into the air, shrouding the entire passage way with a heavy layer of sandy fog. The team shielded them self from the dust. When it lifted all the machops had feinted or fled in a mad panic. Near the centre of the unconscious pile was a closed pokè ball someone had thrown during the battle. Rocky ran forward and scooped the ball up in his hand.

"Gotcha." He exclaimed. "Caught myself a machop."

"Nice." Said Winter. "Given it a nickname?"

"I'm going to call him Chopper." Rocky told her.

"That's all well and good…" Joe said, sarcastically. "…But can you guy's give me a hand controlling my damn Pokémon" poor Joe was trying to get Pitt back into his pokè ball, but every time he tried Pitt would just bat the ball back at him with his vines while shaking his head defiantly.

"Maybe he just needs to be shown some companionship?" Winter pondered. Joe looked over to her sarcastically. Finally Joe succeeded in getting Pitt to go inside his pokè ball and the trio were able to continue again, making sure not to step on the unconscious machop they lay snoring on the floor.

Frank meanwhile was still 'Running the hell out of there!' until he came to the cave entrance and skidded to a halt. He turned and saw he wasn't being followed anymore and sighed in relieve. He wiped the sweat from his head.

"Looks like I gave them the slip." He said, proudly. "Well my work here is done. He turned around, head high, and started walking away until he bumped into someone's leg and fell flat on his back. As he looked up again he saw several men in black uniforms with red R's on the chest carrying nets and small square metal cages. Frank looked up in shock, unable to move. One of the Rocket Grunts took his net and swiped it down towards Frank, picking him up in the net and hung him in the air.

"Put me down!" Frank Complained, shaking and thrashing in the net, trying to get out. A second Rocket grunt opened a cage and the first Rocket grunt flung Frank inside. They then continued inside the cave, carrying the angry, shouting, caged Frank with them.

Meanwhile Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph had continued deeper into the mountain. If their map was correct then there were around half way through already. It was starting to get late, however as Joe's Pokétch now red 9:34pm. Soon they came to a small cave that led around a small corner from the path. The cave was sealed off naturally and wasn't very deep but hid the team from anyone else who should pass by. They decided to stop and set up camp for the night there. The cave was bathed in shallow moon light coming in through the many open holes in the ceiling. They placed there bags down and began building up a small fire out of small logs they brought with them in Rocky's bag. Soon they had a fire blazing in the centre of the camp thanks to the help of Rocky's new Machop.

"How far left to go?" Joe wondered.

"Only about 1 or two miles of walking" Rocky told him. "Then we'll be outside again and looking out towards Cerulean City." He pulled his bag close up and pulled out a small jar containing various berries of different shapes and colours. Some were blue while others were red and yellow. Some were round, some were square and some weren't even shapes that could be named. Unsealing the lid, Rocky pulled out a small blue, circular berry from the bunch and held it in his hand. "Oran berry." He said, noticing Joe watching him. "Good for healing up Pokémon. It's also good for using as a treat and filling hunger." He passed the berry to Chopper who snatched it and gobbled it up in a second.

"How did you get hold of so many?" Joe asked him. Rocky smiled back.

"Me and my brother grow them in our garden." He told him. We have quite a large collection, actually. We sell them every now and then to the stores for making their potions." He took out another berry – this one being yellow with small green spots on it- and handed it to Joe in his palm. "Take it." He said. "Give it to Ralph. Watch out, however. It's bitter." Joe took the berry and held it in his palm. He then held it out to Ralph who had folded his wings up and lay next to Joe. He looked at it cautiously, then gripped it in his mouth and crushed it between his teeth and gulped it down. Within a second of biting into the berry Ralphs face contorted ambivalently. He clearly wasn't sure whether he liked the berry or wanted to spit it back out again. Joe, Rocky and Winter all laughed. Ralph looked at them, displeased but not angry. He clearly didn't find it very funny.

Within no time the group were soon sound asleep. Not all of them were at piece, however. Many thoughts clouded within Joe's mind at this time. These thoughts pilled upon each other till they became an image, and then a dream. In this dream Joe was standing upon the hill outside Suroway farm, his home. It was an hour from dawn and as Joe looked around he could see that he was reliving the day he and Ralph first met, however everything else –apart from he - was completely motionless. Not one sign of movement. Not one intake or outtake of breath. Joe was looking over the scene from the side. On his right were the 6 Beedrill, arms in a guarding position. To his left was Ralph, wings out protectively, looking back behind him like he had done when he was protecting Joe. Joe however wasn't behind him anymore. He followed Ralphs gaze into the wood and noticed that something else was standing in the distance, just outside the tree line, cloaked in shadow. Joe looked at him but couldn't make out who it was. The figure was moving closer, towards him. Joe felt a cold shiver spread down his spine. He started to back away slowly, fighting the urge to run. Everything about this dream was so weird. Then suddenly a deep, strong voice came from nowhere.

"Do not run." It said. The figure in the dark had almost reached him now. It stopped only a couple of feet away from him. Even though the moon was covering the entirety of the figure Joe still couldn't make out his details. He then spoke again. "I wish only to talk with you, Joe." Joe gasped.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked. The man looked away, dodging his question.

"Do you care for this creature?" he asked, gesturing a pale hand towards Ralph. Joe looked at him cautious and confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Do you care for him?!" the man asked again, more firmly and louder than before. Joe stood quiet for a second.

"Yes, I guess." He said finally.

"Then… let him go." The man continued.

"Who are you?" Joe asked, slightly confused, slightly afraid. There was a glistening of white in the darkness. Was the man smiling?

"You will find out soon enough." He told him. And with that he turned and walked back into the night, disappearing completely. Darkness consumed the scene, turning everything invisible till nothing could be seen, not even the light of the rising sun.

Joe sat bolt upright. He was drenched in cold sweat and shaking violently. Early morning light now filled the cave from above. He checked his Pokétch. It was 7:29 and dawn had long since passed. He rubbed his eyes and as his eyes got used to the light he noticed that something wasn't right. Where was Winter and Rocky? Where were there bags and camping equipment? And most of all, Where was Ralph? He stood up, shaking some dust of his jacket and trousers. There was a sudden loud scream from somewhere down the cave. Joe spun around, surprised and alarmed. Someone was screaming for help. Without thinking he swung on his bag, grabbed a pokè ball from his belt and ran out, towards the screaming.

Joe ran down the dark stone passage way, prepared to battle if it became necessary. He soon came upon a large open cavern further into the mountain. He ran inside and saw immediately what was happening. Around seven to eight men, dressed in black suits with red R's – exactly like the two criminals he's run into at the Pokémon centre – were busy hunting down and catching a large bunch of Clefairy that lived within the cavern. The Rocket grunts were swinging nets, scooping up a large number of Clefairy in one go and flinging them into large yet cramped metal cages. Another two men were busy tying up two other people, about the same age as Joe. One male, one female. Joe starred in horror as he quickly realised that it was Winter and Rocky that were being tied up. Nearby another grunt was trying to grab Ralph but he was too quick for him, desperately biting at him and lashing out with his wings. A second grunt snuck up behind him, holding a medicine needle in one hand, full of weird blue liquid. Before Ralph had time to react the grunt had already stuck the needle into the back of Ralph's neck and he's started to fall drowsy. The first grunt had pulled out a large section of rope and was now tying his wings up so he couldn't fight back when he woke just as Ralph's eyes clamped shut and he began to snore. Joe clenched his teeth and let out an angry, animal like, rage filled growl. He clenched the pokè ball in his hand.

"Enough Pokémon kidnapping!" he yelled. "Go, my Pokémon!" he flung his arm forward and let it fly. Pitt appeared in its place on the ground. All the noise had attracted the attention of every grunt in the area. They swarmed forward, readying rope and pokè balls to fight off this furious teen with the puny bulbasaur. Pitt took one look at the many black clothed men standing above him, turned on his tiny, stumpy legs and dashed off in the opposite direction, slipping into a small tunnel where a large family of Sandshrews where hiding. Joe looked back in utter disbelief.

"Pitt?" He yelled. "Come back here!" he turned back round to face the rocket grunts who were now moving forward, toward him, surrounding him. Joe reached for a ball but was stopped by a strong hand gripping his arm and lifting it up, far away from his belt and pokè balls. Joe turned to look at who was holding him. Standing to his right was a tall, well dressed, important looking, Asian man with long thin arms, sunken eyes and almost no hair hiding underneath a flat, white hat with a large C on the front. He also wore a white Rocket suit, indicating he was higher in rank then the normal grunts. He was clearly in charge of this team of Rockets. The man looked deeply into Joe's eyes, studying him.

"Well well. What do we have here?" he pondered, sinisterly in a low, tough, British accent. "Another little rat messing around where he shouldn't be." He looked around the seven grunts who encircled their leader. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" he asked. Joe looked him up and down.

"I can make several guesses." He said, scornfully. The Rocket leader slapped him across the side of the face with the back of his hand. Joe winced, a small tear leaking from the side of his eye. A red mark was now growing across his right side.

"I am Commander Cheng!" The commander told him, strongly. "One of the three Team Rocket Commanders. And you are interrupting a vital collection mission. I have already heard of your meddling with another of our heists and I will not tolerate it!" he let go of Joe's wrist only for another two grunts to grab him again. Commander Cheng waved an arm above his head. "Put him with the other two." He commanded. Joe looked around desperately… then something struck him on the back of the head and everything went black.

A while later Joe awoke. He tried to stand but found his arms had been tied to his sides. As he looked around he saw that he was leaning against Winters back while Rocky lay against the wall a bit further away. Ralph meanwhile was still unconscious and lying against Joe's feet.

"You're finally awake, then?" winter asked. Joe looked down to see rope binds tying up his legs and arms. He struggled, trying to break loose from his binds but found the knots where much tighter then they looked.

"There's no point trying to struggle free" Rocky told him, noticing his struggles. "We've already tried that." Joe gave up and lay back, knocking Winter forwards, lightly.

"I don't suppose either of you have come up with a plan to get us out of this?" he asked, hopefully. Winter tried to turn to face him but remembered quickly about her binds.

"If we had do you think we'd still be tied up?" She asked him, sarcastically.

"Well, when you put it like that." Joe continued.

"Don't you two start arguing" Rocky interrupted. "We need to stay calm and find a way to escape." They fell silent for a while, trying to figure out how they may be able to break free of the ropes tying them up. The Joe spoke again.

"Uh... hey, Winter?" He asked

"What?" she asked.

"I never did apologise about crashing into you when we first met, did I?"

"This is hardly the time, you know." She interrupted.

"I Know." Joe continued. "But it just felt like I needed to bring it up."

"No, I don't think you did." She answered quickly.

"Well, I guess I apologise." He said, rather embarrassedly.

"Apology accepted" She told him. They sat in silence for a couple more seconds. Meanwhile the Rocket grunts were busy locking up another load of caught clefairys they'd captured into small cramped metal cages that crushed them together and against the bars. Joe could hear their poor, uncomfortable, distraught wails. He clenched his fists.

"If I were free from these ropes I'd give these idiots a piece of my mind" Rocky said aloud.

"How can they do this?" Winter asked emotionally. "Causing so much pain to such peaceful and carefree creatures? Do they feel no emotion? Are they not human?""

"I just wish that my own Pokémon hadn't run off on me." Joe said self-pitifully to himself. "If I can't even get a Pokémon I've just met to listen to me then what does that make me as a trainer?" he asked, turning to Winter. She just looked back at him.

"I don't know." She said, truthfully. "I wouldn't blame you, however. Pitt's clearly of a naught nature."

"I don't know." Joe said sadly. "I just tried to be a good trainer and I feel as though I've failed"

Only a couple of metres away to the right Pitt was watching them, feeling rather guilty about leaving them to be captured. He turned to face the small group of sandshrew that lived in the tunnel he'd hidden in. The one in front gestured to him, indicating he should go with them. The group then turned and started to walk back down the tunnel. Pitt stood his ground. He grabbed the head sandshrew on the shoulder with one vine – who turned back round to look at him – and shook his head confidently. The sandshrew stopped the others and walked up to Pitt, wandering what he was planning. They stood around him in a circle as Pitt began to draw his plan on the dusty floor.

A couple of minutes later Ralph woke up. He took one look at the rope around his wings and mouth and immediately started struggling and trying to bite apart the ropes.

"There's no point trying that." Joe told him, sadly. Ralph ignored him and continued gnashing and thrashing about. Joe decided it probably wasn't best to try and stop him, Ralph clearly wasn't happy. He turned to look at Winter. She seemed to be staring directly at him… No... behind him.

"That looks like Pitt" She said, confused. Joe turned. Sure enough, crawling along the far wall, staying in the shadows and sneaking past any passing Rocket grunts, getting slowly closer and closer to the trio, was Pitt the young Bulbasaur.

"That's is Pitt" he agreed. "That's him all right. But how on earth did he escape Team Rocket?"

Pitt continued to sneak his way across, through the shadows of the cave, till he reached them. He yapped, heroically and, withdrawing a vine, slashed off Joe's binds with one swipe. Joe rubbed his hands, free of the painful grip from the rope.

"Thank you." He told his little friend. "Why did you come back?" Pitt looked up at him with his large, adorable eyes. He meant no harm from his jokes. He didn't hate Joe, he didn't even dislike him. It was just his way of making friends. Although he did feel ashamed about leaving him to get captured. Pitt turned and broke away Ralph's bonds. Ralph shot up into the air within seconds and gripped onto a stalactite with his two small feet. Joe proceeded to untie Winter, then Rocky. The group hunched hidden in the shadows, trying to think up a plan to escape.

"Right." Joe started. "We need to fight them while we still can…" Joe started, but Pitt just held out a vine to stop him. He and the sandshrew had made up a plan. It was only a matter of time till they took action.

The Rockets were busy moving the cadged Clefairys into several large piles. Their Leader, Commander Cheng, was very busy shouting instructions at the top of his lungs.

"Get those cages moved!" he yelled so loud that the entire cave shook slightly. "Don't pet them! They bite" he yelled again, less loud, at a grunt who had just stuck his hand into one cage to annoy a Clefairy. The room shook again. However this time it continued to shake. The commander looked around in confusion. The cave began to shake even more. Now all the grunts had noticed it. Joe and the others had noticed it, too. Pitt looked smug. He knew what was going on. The Commander looked down at the ground. To his horror he saw a large crack starting to break its way through the floor. He quickly stepped aside as a small yellow sandshrew burst out of the ground and high into the air. As it came down it lashed out at him, leaving a large scar across the left side of the commander's face. He winced angrily and saw another sandshrew burst out of the ground only a couple of metres away. Then another one, and another. Soon they were popping up all around the Rockets, encircling them in the cracked ground.

"Weird." The commander thought. "The cracks almost make a circular shape. Almost as if…" he stopped as he suddenly realised the dreadful truth. The ground began to rumble again, this time a lot worse than before. Without even thinking Commander Cheng jumped aside just as the ground collapsed beneath him. The entire circle which the Sandshrew had dug had collapsed into a shallow pit, deep enough to keep anyone who fell in trapped. Every one of the Rocket Grunts had fallen in and were now laying dazed and confused on the dusty floor. Commander Cheng hung onto the side, trying to keep a hold. Joe, Winter, Rocky and Ralph looked on amazed, mouths open in total shock. Pitt was laughing manically, rolling around on the floor. The group walked over to the edge of the pit. The Commander hung bellow them. He looked up at the group, furious.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"They call me Joe." Joe said, heroically and mockingly. "And I **don't** approve of your criminal work." And with that he brought a foot down on the Commander's hand. The Commander yelled out in pain and fell backwards into the pit. After a second he landed on top of one of his grunts and yelled in anger.

"I will not forget you!" he shouted up at them.

"Good." Winter replied. And with that the group turned around and walked off.

Soon they reached the cave exit and finally saw daylight again.

"Thank lord Arceus above!" Winter exclaimed.

"Finally we've reached Cerulean City." Joe sighed with relief. "One thing still puzzles me." He started, turning to Pitt. "What happened to the Sandshrew and Clefairy that were being captured?" Pitt just smiled and winked at him. At that moment the Sandshrew that Pitt had teamed up with were busy breaking free the poor captured Clefairy. They were also busy filling in the hole they made to bury the Team Rocket Grunts in. Of course they let them go, but not without their commander ranting and yelling a few swear words before leaving.

"Don't you think we should get moving?" Rocky asked. "The day is passing quickly and we've still got a small walk to go."  
"Good point" Joe agreed. "So what are we waiting for?"

And with that the trio continued on their journey…

A couple of seconds later Team Ace emerged from the cave, Tired, covered in dust and absolutely furious.


End file.
